The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has planned to construct hundreds of traffic umbrellas in the city with modernized facilities. These police chowkis will help traffic policemen fight outdoor elements like- sun, rain, dust, pollution, etc.
New traffic umbrellas for policemen
BBMP has floated a tender that will give the mandate to a private company called Signpost to install traffic umbrellas under a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
“Four hundred junctions will get traffic umbrellas. As of now, we are focusing on installing traffic umbrellas at 50 traffic junctions. After officially inaugurating these traffic umbrellas within a few weeks, we will focus on the remaining locations,’’ said a BBMP official.
Modern facilities to fight outside elements
According to the sources, the traffic umbrellas will cost around Rs 7.52 lakh each. All of the chowkis will be equipped with air purifiers, fan, exhaust fans, drinking water, mobile charging point, first aid box public address system, chair, and table, and LED screen to broadcast social message.
In the meantime, there can be two traffic policemen placed in each umbrella. The agency will also get around 15sq meters of space for putting up advertisements near the traffic umbrellas.
“The traffic umbrella will have a glass cover on par with international standards. If someone throws a stone at it, the lass will develop cracks but not crash and fall. The other advantages of this umbrella are durability. It has a life of more than 30 years and it requires no maintain care,” the sources said.
The traffic umbrellas are a very delayed project that has finally come to the track after 2 years. In 2018, BBMP had called for tenders for constructing and modernizing traffic umbrellas. However, the plans were delayed due to improper supply of funds.
