Visakhapatnam: With a series of complaints regarding traffic congestion around the schools and colleges at three to four major locations in Visakhapatnam, city traffic police and road transport authority have proposed that a change in the current school and college timings can help mitigate the issue.Many private schools and colleges (over 100) are located in the key areas of Asilmetta Junction, RTC Complex, NAD Junction and Gajuwaka. Since the timings of most schools and colleges are from 9 am to 5 pm, traffic jams outside the schools and colleges during the morning and evening hours is a routine affair.The city traffic police have been struggling to regulate the traffic with a number of vehicles coming to the colleges and schools to drop and pick-up the students. Parents of the students often complain that they have a tough time during morning and evening hours (before and after school hours) as the safety of the students is at risk, said AK Khan, a retired regional transport officer and member of road safety committee.“In a recently held road safety committee meet we have informed collector K Bhaskar about the traffic gridlock around schools and colleges and that there is a need to take steps to prevent accidents, police and RTA officials said.Speaking to TOI, district education officer, B Lingeswara Reddy said Bhaskar has directed them to hold a meeting with the managements of colleges and schools concerned to change the timings of schools and colleges to improve traffic flow.Similar opening and closing time followed by all educational institutions is one of the major reasons for traffic snarls. The meeting will perhaps take place on Tuesday, we will suggest to the management of the educational institutes to fix different opening (at least 15 minutes difference) and closing timings for each college and school, Reddy added.A senior traffic police officer, on condition of anonymity, said autorickshaws carrying school children flout rules and cause traffic congestion. Indiscriminate parking of autorickshaws, cars and buses near the schools are the primary reasons for traffic congestions. The proposal to change school timings will give some relief from the traffic chaos, he added.

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