On 18 January, the office goers were perplexed by sudden traffic increase in the residential area of Sector-50, F block. The reason was the order by Gautam Budh Nagar basic education officer regarding change of school timings, 10am to 3pm, w.e.f. 18 Jan ’24. Earlier classes had been suspended for nursery to eighth class, and classes ninth to twelfth were offline. The order was a welcome move for students and parents alike as Noida was engulfed in dense fog and extreme cold conditions, with minimum temperature ranging 5–8 degrees. However, the change in school time competed with the time of professionals leaving for offices, resulting in kilometers of traffic jams.
Sectors 50 and 51 have a lot of schools, with one in the residential area of F-block, and the traffic was a cumulative impact of school busses, mini busses, autos, private cars, etc. trying to reach schools in time or returning after dropping students. Moreover, 7X societies have been using the F-block residential area as short-cut for a long time, with some cars rushing at high speeds without any concern for pedestrians/residents. Due to this sudden traffic, the residents trying to reach metro station or Golf Marg had to detour from behind Kendriya Vihar.
However, the situation changed drastically after Noida administration deployed a traffic police officer at the round-about near Nilgiris School connecting Sectors 50 and 51, and it was a big relief for peak time commuters. It is to be noted that the round-about now have traffic lights, which are non-operational as of now, but once they start working properly and vehicles start to follow traffic rules, it will help in easing the traffic woes to a great extent. Till then, there is a need for a traffic police at the round-about at-least at peak hours, to man the traffic.
