What is Traffic Hackathon 2022 "Swift City- Safe City"; J&K DGP launches traffic mngmt initiative

With a singular aim of ensuring efficient, orderly and safe traffic management, J&K DGP Dilbag Singh launched Traffic Hackathon- 2022 "Swift City- Safe City." The initiative was launched at the Traffic Police HQ and organised by J&K Traffic Headquarters in collaboration with IIT Jammu, NIT Srinagar and IIM Jammu.

Spl. DGP Crime J&K, A. K. Choudhary, ADGP Security, J&K, Dr. S.D Singh Jamwal, ADGP (Hqrs) PHQ, M. K. Sinha, ADGP (Coord) PHQ, Danesh Rana, ADGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, IGP Traffic J&K Vikramjit Singh, IGP Headquarters, PHQ, B.S Tuti, DIG Traffic Kashmir Javed Ahmad Koul, Commissioner SMC, Athar Aamir Khan, SO to IGP Traffic SSP Maqsood Ul Zaman, SSP Srinagar, Rakesh Balwal, Incharge Director NIT Srinagar, Mohammad Farooq Wani, AIG (Training and Policy) JS Johar, SSP Traffic Srinagar Muzaffar Shah, students from different institutions and other senior officers of traffic police, Srinagar city were present on the occasion.

The Hackathon is an effort of J&K Police to address traffic issues being faced by commuters in the valley on a regular basis. The DGP said that most traffic accidents are occurring due to negligent driving and said that people have to follow the traffic rules for their own safety and the safety of others.

He said that the attitude of drivers must change for the better in order to ensure smooth traffic movement. He further noted that many drivers don't follow the traffic rules, which cause the traffic logjams. He thanked IIT Jammu, NIT and IIM Srinagar for facilitating the event and appreciated the IGP traffic for coming up with the idea, which he hoped would surely contribute in addressing the traffic management issues.

On the sideline of the function, the DGP while speaking to the media said that NIT Srinagar, IIT Jammu, IIM Jammu and National highway authority is in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Police to find a solution to the problems being faced by the people with regard to traffic management.

"We want young minds to submit their proposals and recommendations which through the government would be implemented to address the issue", he said.

Earlier, IGP Traffic J&K gave a detailed presentation about the seven traffic issues regarding which ideas have been sought.

1. Freight Traffic Management on National Highway (Jammu- Kashmir)
2. Travel time and traffic flow optimization in Jammu and Srinagar Cities
3. Smart driver training for attitudinal change
4. Parking management following system approach for the city
5. Low-cost urban space transformation for vulnerable road users like pedestrian and cyclists
6. Innovation For improving occupational safety, health for traffic personnel and
7. Vigilance and integrity monitoring of traffic personnel.

Prof Wani of NIT Srinagar and Prof Aggrawal of IIT Jammu also spoke on the occasion and appreciated the initiative of the J&K Police and assured their full support to make this event a success.

How to participate?

All interesting students and other participants can submit their ideas online by or before 07 October 2022 at https://iitjammu.ac.in/jk-traffic-hackathon. Teams must register on time for the event and adhere to deadlines for submission of the tasks at hand. Incomplete submission will be disqualified. Submissions can be submitted in either Hindi or English. More details regarding the submission, terms & conditions for participation are available on the IIT Jammu official website.

The submission will be evaluated by experts on different parameters, including, but not limited to the novelty of the idea/innovation, ease/ cost of implementation (Frugality), stage of development, scalability, potential impact, technical & financial feasibility, Time taken to achieve Break even), roll out plan/ speed of deployment, the team strength, and the overall plan. A cash prize of Rs 1 lakh is among other prizes to be awarded to the individual/team with the best idea/innovation regarding traffic management.