Pune traffic signals at 51 locations stopped functioning around 8 am on Friday while prepaid electricity meters were being installed and updated, according to Pune City Police. The outage affected junctions across the Pune Police Commissionerate limits, but officials did not disclose a location-wise list or confirm when all signals would be restored.
The disruption created the possibility of traffic movement being affected in different parts of the city. With no public information on the specific junctions involved, motorists were not given a clear indication of which crossings had become non-operational or where additional caution was required.
Pune City Police contacted the Electrical Department of the Pune Municipal Corporation after the signals stopped working. A junior engineer identified as Murmure informed police that prepaid meter installation and related updating work was under way when some traffic signals were affected.
Police said efforts were initiated to restore the signals. However, the communication did not identify the precise technical fault that caused the failure. It also did not establish whether the outage was linked to a single electrical interruption, equipment-level disruption or separate issues at multiple junctions.
The incident placed the functioning of traffic-control infrastructure in Pune’s road network in focus. Traffic signals coordinate vehicle movement and pedestrian crossings at junctions, and an outage can require motorists and other road users to rely on manual direction or informal right-of-way arrangements. The police report, however, did not state whether traffic personnel had been deployed at all 51 affected locations.
The outage also exposed an operational coordination issue between electricity-related work and traffic-signal systems. The meter installation and updating activity was being carried out while the signals were in service, but the information available from police did not specify whether the work had been scheduled with the agencies responsible for traffic management or whether advance public communication had been issued.
The Pune Municipal Corporation’s Electrical Department was approached for an explanation after the failure was reported. As of the police communication, there was no confirmed timeline for restoring all 51 signals, and the completion schedule for the ongoing prepaid meter work had not been disclosed. Further updates from the police or municipal authorities are expected to clarify the affected locations, the technical cause and the restoration status.
