MAPUSA
Some motorists had a lucky escape, when a traffic signal came crashing down following a freak mishap involving a concrete mixer truck near the court junction at Mapusa on Tuesday.
Traffic was also blocked along the route for about two hours.
According to reports, the incident occurred at 9.30 am, when the driver of the concrete mixer truck failed to notice the local cable network cables tied to an electricity pole. As the concrete mixer truck dragged the cables, the old traffic signal at the junction broke and came crashing down on the hanging cables.
Queues of vehicles were seen on all the four sides at the court junction. The traffic police with the help of home guards tried to clear the cables and the vehicle. The electricity department personnel restored power supply in the junction area. Fire fighters has also rushed to the spot.
The traffic police informed that the company which had set up the traffic signal later removed the traffic signal with the help of fire department personnel.
Mapusa Congress Block President Vijay Bhike alleged that in Mapusa city, cables of private cable network are tied to electricity poles.
“The electricity department has failed to take action against the cable networks, due to which the incident took place. The traffic signal was erected to control vehicular traffic at the court junction. The police is manually regulating traffic, and so, what is the use of this signal?” questioned Bhike.
Bharat Jain of Digital Dizinar Company said the traffic signal did not crash due to its own weight, but due to the concrete mixer truck. “There is no damage to the signal. This signal system was erected on experimental basis on August 15 and the work to erect signal on all four sides of the junction will start soon,” he said.
