I received a mail from Anil Rajpal who writes, “I would like to draw your kind attention to the traffic chaos which is a perpetual problem at the round about of Pusa Rd, Shankar Rd and S.R. Krishnan Marg. The roundabout is a junction where five roads meet and there is a very heavy traffic at that point especially during peak hours in the mornings and in the evenings. Pity is, in spite of DMRC employees who are supposed to be managing the traffic (since lots of Metro Rail construction work is being carried out in the vicinity) and, also, the traffic police supposed to be doing the same job are not even present at the point to control the traffic. In the evenings, at about 7.45 p.m., there is a total chaos, the traffic from all the points merge at that round about without any proper signalling, resulting in lots of accidents.

“The traffic policemen are seen chatting among themselves at a nearby police booth and the DMRC employees are also seen behaving in the similar manner, whereas, both the parties are supposed to be managing the traffic. It seems that they are paid for chatting instead of doing their respective duties.

“Had there been a proper handling of the situation, things like accidents, chaos etc. would not take place. The public, as such, would not be harassed un-necessarily. You cannot even imagine the harassment that the motorists face at that junction.

“Under the circumstances, it is strongly suggested that the matter should be taken to higher authorities and surprise checks should be carried out for smoother flow of traffic at that point. It's in the interest of the public.”

I don’t agree with you regarding mornings, but definitely during evenings, all these marshals are missing. In the morning I have seen traffic marshals provided by DMRC working on that particular roundabout, but the traffic cops are seen sitting or standing on one corner. They are either challning motorists or chatting among themselves. Evening I agree there’s a total chaos.

Another thing that I have noticed is these traffic marshals are responsible in some ways for creating traffic hurdles also. Actually they act as messengers to blueline bus drivers. In return, I guess the blue-line drivers pay them some money for parting away with information. Suppose a bus on route number 851 is going and the marshal tells them that another 851 just went five minutes before them, then this particular bu on route no 851 will have a prolonged stopping on the next bus stop. This prolonged stopping congests the movement of the traffic. Very frequently I have seen them stopping at the much-congested Pusa Road bus stop. I think these marshals need to be changed frequently from their place of duty.