The civic body plans to use the amount to improve traffic aesthetics and install more traffic-count machines
The roads and traffic department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is expecting to collect a whopping Rs211 crore by the end of this financial year, 2014-2015. The lump sum will be part of its dedicated transport fund.
The amount has been collected from various sources such as road reinstatement charges from various companies that dig trenches on roads for laying utilities like cables and pipelines, agencies carrying out small work on roads, and through small events held on streets, among others.
That's not all. The roads department has collected an additional Rs22 crore till now in access charges from utility firms. The access charge is the amount the firms pay the civic body for restoring dug-up roads on their behalf. The BMC started collecting this charge from April last year, since it was getting difficult for road department officials to monitor the quality of roads restored by those companies.
Civic officials say the money will be used to improve the traffic aesthetics of Mumbai's roads, apart from basic maintenance and upkeep of roads. Additional municipal commissioner SVR Srinivas, who is in charge of the roads department, said, "The money will be utilised for erecting signage on prominent roads, creating road crossings and also for installing traffic count machines on major roads."
These machines help calculating the traffic flow per hour on roads where they are installed. The BMC currently has two such machines, each costing around Rs14lakh-15lakh.
dna had earlier reported that the BMC has chalked out a separate plan for improving the traffic aesthetics of the city to encourage better discipline among commuters. The plan included the use of thermoplastic paint for marking zebra crossings and lanes.
"The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs13.62 core and the proposal will be presented before the standing committee next month," a senior civic official said.
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