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| Role of Police and Management of Traffic | | | Ravinder Jalali
Recently the top cop of Jammu and Kashmir Police has ordered for the placement of 600 SPOs at the disposal of Traffic Police in order to ensure better traffic management. Certainly it was on the orders of Chief Minister and needs appreciation for the concern shown by the newly appointed Government keeping in view the increased number of accidents that take place in our State and especially being a hilly state with mountains range because of which our state is more vulnerable as compared to other states. It is not for the first time that the Govt. has expressed concern on the issue of management of traffic but before also the concern for the traffic violations has been expressed by the administration. Moreover when the gruesome accidents take place which claim many lives, the administration in general and police personnel in particular do wake up to these harsh realities but again go in hibernation. It was reported that the increase in the number of accidents and violations of traffic rules particularly over speeding and overloading gets unnoticed because of the shortage of the traffic staff. The state has reported more than 5800 accidents every year and more than 900 lives lost and more than 8000 people received injuries.
Theoretically it is nice to present such a rosy and holy picture of the police department as to pretend to be innocent before the Government. From the point of a common man it seems to be ridiculous and is laughable. Every body irrespective of any region, religion, cast or colour knows what the real truth is all about. The facts and figures as given by the police department as given by the police are as follows: There are about 500 traffic police personal each to regulate the vehicular traffic of lakhs of vehicles against the actual requirement of thousands of cops. There are around 400 and 450 Traffic Police personnel in the rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir provinces respectively. It has also been pleaded that due to the shortage of traffic personnel, the traffic violations on account of overloading and overspeeding in public transport particularly in rural areas remains unchecked. In rural areas the number of cops is not adequate to regulate the vehicular traffic movement even, not to talk of checking overloading and overspeeding.
It is wrong to say that the traffic police are not able to notice the overloading and overspeeding of the vehicles. Now the question is whether the shifting of 600 SPOs to traffic police will end or reduce the traffic violation. Emphatically No! The ratio of number of traffic police personnel to the number of vehicles in lakhs has not much relevance. It is the number of crossings or chowks which is to be compared. The police has to manage crossings and how they are managing the traffic is no secret because they are to perform on roadside under the glare of the people around them and there is no secret. In Jammu city only we may see at least 5 to 6 and even up to 8 and 9 police personnel comprising of all ranks sometimes even up to the rank of DSP at crossings for managing the traffic, but it results in damaging the traffic. Yes during VIP movement they remains on toes and always on wireless sets to ensure that the VIP or politician gets unobstructed way to the place of his or her destination, even are allowed o choose the wrong lane for which a normal person is subject to penalty and harassment.
You will find these people only at junctions/crossings, roundabouts, where VIPs, Heavy weights, politicians are to pass by. I fail to understand the need for so many traffic persons deployed on these places. Some are seen gossiping, some making through newspapers and some busy in revenue collection (Vassoli) for whom…..!, they know better. Whenever VIP movement is to take place, about whom, they are pre informed, things comes to standstill and show utter disrespect to the common man. They harass and humiliate common man till the VIPs gets through and the cops' gets invisible thereafter. Sometimes I feel surprised that despite the presence of so many cops on the roadside to manage traffic, there is a traffic jam and chaos.
Traffic lights installed at crossings a few years back also is a barrier to the smooth functioning of the traffic, not because of its non-implementation but for the reason it is not serving the purpose. Just by putting lights on the crossings will not ensure smooth traffic unless there is a proper infrastructure like sufficient width of the roads more particularly at crossings. The roads should be sufficient wide to allow the vehicles going straight and at the same time have enough roads to keep the left open to enable the left going traffic to go without obstruction. Some times the traffic signal turns red but there is no road available for the vehicles coming from the opposite side. The timings of the light are also faulty and have been set with out adequate application of mind. The incoming and outgoing traffic at a particular crossing has not been taken into account. The last but not the least is whether crossings are ready in terms of infrastructure to accept the traffic lights. No thought has been given at the time of its installation perhaps. It seems that the lights were installed just for installation only with economic reasons and not for traffic management. About 60 -70% of crossings where the lights had been installed were not at all required and instead of managing the traffic, it gets damaged. At times in addition to lights, police personal have to man the signals, wherever it functioning sometimes, to allow the traffic to flow. Can the Government afford to investigate the purpose of installation of lights and had been the purpose accomplished? Definitely! Not. Now the present position is that the lights have become redundant mostly in older part of Jammu.
Every body knows that the commercial vehicles particularly Matadors are using and playing the music system at high pitch, which is often seen as an irritant to the general commuter. If any point of time the senior officers would visit these matadors it is there and not a surprise. It is not difficult to stop this menace provided the people managing the traffic have intention of stopping it.
The police in the country are the instrument for enforcing the rule of law' they are the means by which civilized society maintains order that the people may live safely in their homes and go freely about their lawful business. Policemen like everybody else are accountable to the law. Any police service in the democratic setup has to accept the fact that they cannot enforce laws and maintain order without the support and confidence of the people. When the police get public cooperation and confidence for what they do, it indicates that there is enforcement justice. When the police do not get public trust and cooperation, it means that there takes place enforcement injustice. Police still consider that they are a force and not a service. In order to set the traffic system right, there should be public cooperation and increased awareness. The police, after giving a reasonable notice for penalising the violators should strictly implement it and penalises the culprits of traffic violation and not to show any leniency so that it serve as a deterrent for the remaining lot and will not repeat.
Police personnel, irrespective of their ranks must introspect with in themselves and should understand that they don't earn themselves or generate any revenue for government, rather the society bears their expenses and if they don't serve the common man, then why common man will bear the brunt of their expenditure.
--(The writer is a Social Activist and Convenor, Democratic Pannun Kashmir. ) |
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