In the days to come, six or maybe even more signals - all simultaneously blinking red-green-amber at a single roundabout - can confuse motorists than helping them for smooth traffic system.

Days after the decks towards setting up of electronic signals in 97 locations in the city were cleared, the district administration too has asked the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) to repair the defunct traffic lights.

Patna divisional commissioner Narmedeshwar Lal said on Wednesday the PMC had been directed to look for options but no deadline has been set to repair the old ones.

Surprisingly, the official said he had no idea about signing of the contract between Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo), a wing under the urban development and housing department, and Dutch firm ARS Traffic and Transport Technology.

'The existing signals have been lying defunct since 2005. A meeting was held last week with the PMC, police among others. Instructions have been given to ensure all the defunct traffic signals are mended soon,' Lal said.

An official attached to the signal project said: 'It has been said in the contract that the Dutch company would start groundwork on the Rs 25.2-crore project by this month-end to complete in four to six months. If the signals are being installed in 97 locations, it is obvious that the major roundabouts like Dakbungalow, Income-Tax, Hartali Mor, Boring Road, which already have the defunct signals, will not be ignored. Now, with the administration talking about the mending of all the existing signals, there will definitely be a cost factor associated with it. With BUIDCo stating clearly in the contract that work by the Dutch firm will be completed latest by May next year, mending of the defunct signals does not seem to be a good idea as they will eventually be removed and replaced with the new signals, which will also have CCTV cameras installed. The administration is definitely not thinking about having five to six signals in one place.'

Traffic signals, all of them electronically operated, were first installed in the city at 17 locations in 2005. However, the Rs 1.19-crore project came to a halt within six months. Once the signals went out of order, no attempts were made by Calcutta-based Webel Mediatronics, which installed them, to repair them despite within the company's warranty period

Last year, defunct signals at the Dakbungalow roundabout were made functional by the police. 'The manually operated signals were doing quite well but the issue of paying electricity bills made the plan grounded in the long run,' said a police officer requesting anonymity.