Even as the State Government has tightened the traffic rules under the MV Act from January 1, despite the tall claims by the concerned agencies, the traffic system in Bhubaneswar continues to remain chaotic. It is no surprise that accidents continue to spiral and the roads have turned deathtraps. But no steps are being taken by the concerned agencies to resolve the problems which have led to the mess.

Encroachments and illegal parking on busy roads like on the  Janpath, the stretch from Rasulgarh to Kalpana Square (due to the malls, liquor shops, bars and restaurants) and, Rajmahal Square to AG Square, CRPF Square to Unit-8 DAV School(due to the vending zones on both sides of the roads)  and many others are rampant and this has resulted in congestion. But the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has turned a blind eye to it.

Earlier, the Traffic police during the tenure of former Commissioner of Police Satyajit Mohanty had identified nine black spots (hazard-prone ones) in the city and took steps like putting up barricades and putting up signages to reduce the mishaps. But now the corrective measures to rectify the black spots have been abandoned by police for reasons best known to them.Besides, though the roads are being widened little attention is paid to road engineering by the Public Works Department. Flaws in road construction are not being corrected, which is also leading to accidents.

To make matters worse, the Honeywell CCTV cameras worth crores of rupees, installed by the Commisionerate police, Odisha Police Housing Welfare Corporation and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited to keep an eye on the traffic rule violators are either defunct or not functioning properly. So, the violators continue to go scotfree. There is lack of coordination between the BDA, BMC, Works Department, Commissionerate police.

Also, lack of awareness about traffic rules and rash driving are contributing to increasing the accidents leading to loss of precious lives, said road safety expert Subrat Kumar Nanda.