Poor working condition of traffic cops laid bare
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 13 2018: Even though the Chief Minister N Biren Singh led BJP coalition Government took up steps to put the traffic police under a Superintendent of Police with the aim of improving the conditions of the traffic police, there has been almost no change in the condition of the traffic police till date.

According to a traffic police official, the traffic police personnel are working in three different shifts in 36 locations of the capital city Imphal (Imphal West), bearing rain and sun and are manually carrying out their duties without any form of technological assistance.

In the capital city which is populated by around 2.65 lakh people, the traffic police are also facing immense pressure in controlling the huge number of people who throng the major markets namely Paona Keithel and Thangal Keithel as well as arranging the traffic and the parking procedures of the vehicles which come to the banks and the schools located inside the two Keithels.

Pointing out that trying to route the traffic to prevent congestion along the roads passing through the two Keithels is a big challenge for the traffic police, the official said that the traffic police are working manually as the traffic lights have stopped functioning and even the zebra crossing which should be illuminated during the night time are not illuminated.

The official informed that the traffic police personnel are working in three shifts in a day, namely from 8 am to 11.30 am, from 11.30 am to 4 pm and from 4 pm to 8 pm.

Around 124 traffic police personnel are allocated for each shift.

Due to lack of additional traffic police personnel, the traffic police officers have to go round and round along both Paona Keithel and Thangal Keithel (which measure a little above 4 sq kms) so as to catch traffic law violators and other defaulters.

Conveying that the amount of vehicles on the road are ever increasing as around 100 vehicles are being registered at the Transport Department each day, the official said that excluding the number of officers, the traffic police in Imphal West consists of 288 VDFs, 50 Home Guards, and some Constables.

At times, mainly during festivities and sports events, some traffic personnel are utilised elsewhere leading to great inconvenience in maintaining the traffic scenario in the capital, the official added.

Explaining that 119 posts are still vacant, the traffic official conveyed that the traffic police still do not have their own crane, veterinary ambulances to pick up animals knocked down by vehicles.

The traffic police do not even have bikes to catch those who break traffic rules, the official added.

Even though it is possible to arrest traffic rule violators using CCTV recordings, the official stated that sometimes, there are incidents when the traffic police pitch in their own money to treat the people who meet with an accident by violating traffic rules and there are also cases when the traffic rule violators crash into the traffic police as well.

A traffic police can collect fines from an individual who is in the wrong during an accident however, they are not given the power to take up a police case against the defaulters.

The official explained that in Mizoram, traffic cases which occur during the daytime are handled by traffic police while those which occur during the night time are handled by the police and added that in big cities of the country, traffic police handle such traffic cases themselves.

The official conveyed that the women traffic police personnel are often dehydrated as they often refrain from drinking water because of lack of proper toilet facilities for the ladies.

The office and bunks for the traffic police who bear the rain and sun to perform their duties are even dirtier than a pig sty, the official claimed and added that even the place where they sleep gets flooded during rainy season and they have to lay bricks to elevate their bed.

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