Now, traffic cop foot soldiers on city roads

New teams of police personnel tackle busy FC and JM roads on foot to connect better with public, will roam around to nab traffic offenders, bring them to book

If you plan to drive your vehicle along Fergusson College (FC) Road or Jangli Maharaj Road over the next few days, be sure to mind traffic rules strictly -otherwise, you may just find yourself on the radar of the Pune traffic police’s new foot soldiers. Following complaints of constant congestion, city traffic police department has deployed a special squad on these major roads to take action against offenders causing congestion. Interestingly, the team has been instructed to walk along these roads for better onground law enforcement, connecting with people more personally.Apart from these two parallel roads, traffic police have deployed additional manpower at Shivaji Road, Tilak Road, MG Road and Bajirao Road, all of which also face frequent traffic jams. After deploying more personnel on these roads for nearly a week to regulate traffic, from Tuesday onwards, traffic cops started penalising rule-breakers to intensify the drive.

Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Pravin Mundhe told Mirror, “Of the new recruits in Pune police, the traffic department got the major share of manpower. We have around 300 new police personnel, whose help we plan to take to improve the city’s traffic situation. Out of these newly recruited personnel, we have set up a team of 60 for better traffic management.“ Four such teams have been deployed on various roads. “We have merged new recruits with the existing police personnel so that they can learn from experienced officers for effective action,“ Mundhe added.

Teams have also been instructed to keep an eye on major traffic violations like double parking, driving in the wrong direction, parking vehicles in no parking zones and more.Sub-inspector in-charge of Deccan traffic division, M Manchekar, said, “Double parking and driving on the wrong side of the road are two major contributors to traffic congestion on busy roads. For the last one week, we have been appealing to commuters to follow traffic rules and discouraging them from double parking and wrong-side driving. From Tuesday, as per fresh instructions, we have started penalising them. Once commuters come to know that the police are issuing fines strictly, they will stop breaking rules.“

The squads have been specifically instructed to walk on these roads instead of monitoring the traffic on vehicles. “Earlier, we would travel in police vehicles and instruct commuters to follow the rules. However, we realised that this was less impactful. Once the vehicle moved on, they would revert to breaking rules. Plus, vehicles take at least 10 minutes to complete a round of an area. Now, personnel have been told to walk on the road and connect more personally with commuters,“ said Manchekar.

Source : Mirror