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Chandigarh traffic police to get own station soon
UT director general of police Praveer Ranjan announced this at Sukhna Lake on Friday. He was speaking at a function where the initiative to install convex traffic mirrors in the city was launched
The Chandigarh Police will soon send a proposal to set up a dedicated station for the UT traffic police on par with other major cities.
UT director general of police (DGP) Praveer Ranjan announced this at Sukhna Lake on Friday. He was speaking at a function where the initiative to install convex traffic mirrors in the city was launched.
The DGP said most cities had a separate station for the traffic police. “We will go over the cases and in due course of time, a proposal regarding this will be sent to the authorities,” he said.
Mohali and Panchkula already have dedicated traffic police stations with a station house officer.
In Chandigarh, people pay challans and collect impounded vehicles from Traffic Lines in Sector 29. A Children’s Traffic Park is also set up in Sector 23 to spread awareness about road safety.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP, Traffic) Manisha Choudhary said, “The idea behind a dedicated traffic police station is to ensure scientific data collection of road accidents and to thoroughly investigate all fatal and non-fatal road accidents. In a regular police station, investigation of road accidents may be neglected due to law and order, and other sensitive crimes happening. This concept is already prevalent in southern states like Karnataka, Pondicherry.”
More sub-divisions
The traffic police are also working on creating more traffic sub-divisions, in line with the police proposal to increase sub-divisions of local police from three to five. The traffic police have three sub-divisions right now, including central, east and south divisions.
“Chandigarh has around 100 fatal and 200 non-fatal accidents every year. Because the volume of traffic has increased, road capacity is decreasing and innovative solutions are required,” said Ranjan.
He explained how cameras had already been installed for an Intelligent Traffic Management System in the city and a control room to man these will be set up by the municipal corporation.
The DGP also said the decrease in fatal accidents in 2020 was not only due to the lockdown but also due to enforcement by the traffic police.
107 convex mirrors to be installed in city
A total of 107 convex mirrors will be installed in the city to provide better visibility at blind spots. The mirrors have been provided by ICICI Lombard as part of their corporate social responsibility initiative.
Speaking about this, DGP Ranjan said, “The traffic police have identified 97 blind spots in the city. These convex mirrors with their wide-angle view will provide greater visibility, preventing accidents.”
The first of the mirrors was unveiled at Sukhna Lake by UT adviser Dharam Pal in the presence of various officials of the UT administration, municipal corporation, ICICI Lombard and police.
The remaining will be installed in the coming days by the UT administration and MC authorities, along with the traffic police.
