Kathmandu, June 23 Traffic lights, which were shut down since the lockdown was imposed, have resumed operating to regulate city traffic. Senior Superintendent of Police Bhim Prasad Dhakal, incharge at Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, said traffic lights had resumed with the increase in vehicular movement throughout Kathmandu valley. Despite the partial lockdown still in effect, the government has enforced odd-even rules for vehicles, except for emergency ones. SSP Dhakal said traffic lights in Padmodaya Mode, New Baneshwor, Subidhanagar, Gairigaun, Munibhairav, Kalimati, New Thimi, Singha Durbar, Gaushala, Mitrapark, Putalisadak, Narayan Gopal Chowk, Paropakar, Tankeshwor and Mahapal (Lalitpur) were brought into operation. “We are also doing groundwork to install traffic lights in other intersections of the valley. There is urgent need to find intelligent solutions for traffic management,” he said. SSP Dhakal appealed to all to follow traffic light signals. The Department of Roads in association with MTPD had recently fixed traffic lights in 18 places of the valley. They had been dysfunctional for the past nine years. This has reduced one-third workload of the traffic police, he added. Around 1,350 traffic police work inside the valley. Among them, as many as 675 are deployed on the streets to manage the traffic. According to MTPD, more than 1.1 million vehicles ply the valley roads daily. All these vehicles were managed manually by traffic police. Moreover, they are also required to clear the road for scores of VIPs each day, making sure they do not get stuck in traffic. Traffic management has become a daunting task due to inadequate traffic lights and overhead crossings at thoroughfares at the main roads of the valley. A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 24, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.