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Shortage of traffic personnel leads to chaos, congestion on roads in Ludhiana
There are as many as 200 traffic points in the city which need manual management by officers. Due to a lack of strength, the police are hardly able to cover 100 such points
: The shortage of traffic police personnel to man vehicular movement has added to the woes of residents, who have been battling with ever-increasing congestion on roads and traffic snarls due to prolonged construction works going on in various parts of the city.
For a city with an estimated population of around 40 lakh, there are only around 150 personnel in the traffic police. Out of these, one-fourth remain caught up in administrative duties and other tasks, leaving only around 120 officers to manage the vehicular movement in the state’s largest and most populated city.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (operations) Sameer Verma said that with the current strength, the traffic police are highly overburdened, and it is difficult to manage routine tasks effectively due to the lack of required staff. He added that they are hopeful that staff will be deployed in the upcoming recruitments.
There are as many as 200 traffic points in the city which need manual management by officers. Due to a lack of strength, the police are hardly able to cover 100 such points.
The operations of traffic police in the city are divided into four traffic zones, with each zone having a different charge and police force.
According to official figures, there are a total of six sub-inspectors, 96 assistant-sub inspectors, and over 50 constable and head constable rank officers.
A senior police official requesting anonymity said that as the urban and industrial areas are expanding at a rapid speed, the need for more staff is at an all-time high.
He said that even as the industrial areas around Dhandari Kalan and Sherpur have grown fourfold in the recent years along with the advancing of posh localities, societies and markets around the Pakhowal road and Ferozepur road, the strength of traffic police remains the same.
The official said that requests for additional deployments have been made at different points in recent years but there is no letup in the situation. He added that even after the recruitment of new staff, the traffic police gets the staff after the completion of a training period of three years, the new recruits, who have been appointed last year, will only be deployed after two years.
Technology of no help
Several initiatives to use technology to save time and efforts of the traffic police to streamline the operations, including the use of drones to scan the area and an electronic-challan system, have been largely ineffective. The e-challan system that started at as many as six intersections is lying non-operational for the last three months, while the plan to start the service at additional traffic points has also been hanging fire.
Long duty hours take toll on health
A police personnel on duty near Fountain Chowk said that the average duty time of police officials has increased from eight hours to fourteen hours. With only one officer deployed at several traffic points, it is only difficult to manage the flow of the traffic.
He added that during the peak morning and evening hours and on festive days, it becomes hard to catch the violators as maintaining the flow of the vehicles becomes a top priority.
The official that whenever there is a political event and VIPs are scheduled to arrive, a chunk of officers gets diverted towards the event, affecting the traffic. He added that long duty hours also take a toll on their health and also personal life.
Residents bear the brunt
Nitin Sharma, a resident of Tagore Nagar, said that a city like Ludhiana needs over 300 active personnel to undertake the host of duties that fall under their purview. He said that such an important issue lying out of the administration’s priority is not favourable to residents.
