Despite the alarmingly high number of fatal accidents, Mohali district continues to be severely under-equipped with only 120 traffic cops maintaining order on its roads, spanning across 1,098 square km.
This lowly figure stands in stark contrast to neighbouring Chandigarh, which boasts of a significantly larger force of 1,500 traffic officers despite having a 10 times smaller area of 114 square km, making Mohali’s deficiency all the more glaring.
Mohali’s woefully low number of traffic cops translated into just 461 drunk driving challans in 2023, compared to the mammoth 3,143 challans in Chandigarh in the same year, despite the traffic violation’s role in contributing to numerous road mishaps and fatalities.
Even this year, only 106 drunk drivers have been challaned by Mohali traffic police in the first three months, allowing drunk drivers to get behind the wheel freely and endanger lives.
On Monday, a 33-year-old man was killed and five more were left critically injured after a drunk canter driver ploughed his vehicle into a truck trailer and a scooter at the busy Sohana gurdwara light point on Airport Road in the wee hours. Despite these incidents, people driving under the influence of liquor mostly go unchecked due to the severely understaffed Mohali traffic police.
In all, 44 people have lost their lives on Mohali’s killer roads so far this year.
{{/usCountry}}In all, 44 people have lost their lives on Mohali’s killer roads so far this year.
{{/usCountry}}In 2023, as many as 320 lives were snuffed out in road mishaps in the district, up from 296 in 2022. At 172, two-wheeler riders formed majority of casualties, followed by 102 pedestrians, together constituting 85% of fatalities.
Night-time vigilance in slow gear
Late-night speeding, drunk driving and red light jumping remain common in Mohali, with little to no permanent checkpoints in the district during the after-hours, contributing to heightened risk of accidents.
Lacking manpower, Mohali traffic police remain on roads only from 8 am till 8 pm, allowing traffic violators to have a free run at late night.
For daytime check posts, Mohali is divided into 16 zones, including Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 3 and Airport zone in Mohali city, apart from Chattbir light point, Zirakpur, Dera Bassi, Lalru, Kurali, Mubarikpur, Kharar, Landran, Gharuan, Handesra, Nayagaon zone, Mullanpur and Saneta in the city’s periphery.
Night nakas till 2 am are laid only occasionally, during festivals like Diwali and New Year or during special drives initiated by Mohali police.
Traffic management vs violations
Other than the 16 nakas daily, Mohali cops remain occupied in managing traffic at a total of 20 points across the district during peak hours.
Permanently stationed at these key points to ensure the burgeoning traffic in the district moves smoothly, traffic cops thereby rarely make time to keep a check on violators.
Traffic personnel remain deployed at Verka Chowk from 8 am till 10 am due to heavy vehicle movement daily. Similarly, cops manage traffic at Cheema Boiler light point at the same time, then from 4 pm till 7 pm in Industrial Area, Phase 8B, and Kumbra Chowk in the morning and evening.
Other than this, they also manage traffic flow at Dhakoli Railway crossing, Patiala Chowk and KFC cut in Zirakpur from 6 pm till 9 pm, as vehicular movement on this road has increased due to sealing of Haryana-Punjab border at Shambhu due to ongoing farmers’ agitation.
Cops also have to keep an eye out on traffic movement at Lehli railway crossing, ITI Lalru, Mubarikpur light point, besides other key points in Zirakpur and Dera Bassi.
On several occasions, many of the 120 traffic cops also remain busy clearing passage for VIP movement in the district, further limiting their availability for challaning.
Powerless signals add to workload
Further contributing to cops’ workload are traffic lights that still don’t operate on batteries and are dependent on electricity supply.
In case of power cuts, these traffic signals stop working, forcing traffic cops to take over.
Some of such light points include PCL Chowk, Sector 52/53 light point, Phase3/5 light point, Phase 5/1 light point, besides multiple traffic signals in Zirakpur.
A traffic officer said around 1.30 lakh vehicles ply daily on Airport Road alone and with limited staff on roads, it is not possible to catch all traffic violations.
When questioned about low number of checks and challans for drunk driving, Harinder Singh Mann, superintendent of police (SP), Traffic, Mohali, said, “Our key focus is not challaning, but smooth flow of traffic so that commuters reach their destinations on time. After this, we check traffic violations, such as red light jump, speeding and drunk driving.”