Navi Mumbai traffic police gets 30 wardens from PMC to curb traffic issues

The wardens have been posted at Panvel, Kalamboli and Kharghar traffic police beats. They have been posted on the field post Diwali and can be seen regulating traffic

PANVEL

Navi Mumbai, India - Nov. 24, 2023:Curbing traffic issues - Navi Mumbai traffic police gets 30 wardens from PMC in Navi Mumbai, India, on Friday, November 24, 2023. (Photo by Bachchan Kumar/ HT PHOTO) (HT PHOTO)

Perennial traffic issues in Panvel region are expected to be curbed with Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) providing 30 wardens to Navi Mumbai traffic police. The initiative followed a request from the traffic department. More wardens are expected to follow.

The wardens from Maharashtra Security Force have been deployed at traffic junctions and other places to support the traffic personnel.

Panvel has long been suffering traffic jams with the traffic police being unable to do much due to paucity of personnel. It had been following up on appointment of wardens for long with PMC.

PMC had a couple of years back approved the appointment of wardens with the general body approving appointment of 50 wardens. The issue was however delayed due to technical issues.

Municipal Commissioner Ganesh Deshmukh has recently managed to get 45 wardens from Maharashtra Security Force. Of these he has sent 30 to Navi Mumbai traffic police to coordinate traffic in PMC jurisdiction, the rest will be used by the civic body for its security purposes. PMC will pay ₹12 lakh per month in salaries with the annual expenditure being R 1.44 cr.

Said Deshmukh. “We had a request from Navi Mumbai traffic police to provide them with manpower to regulate traffic in our region as they have a shortage of staff. Traffic snarls are indeed an issue in the region and hence we took up the request and have provided the wardens to them. It will help the city traffic management.”

Stated deputy commissioner of police (Traffic) Tirupati Kakde, “This is a useful manpower multiplier for us thanks to PMC that has made the wardens available at our request. It will certainly ease the situation. They have been posted at various locations in the region to ensure smooth flow of traffic.”

He explained, “The wardens will assist our personnel in traffic management, during accidents for diversion and rescue operations and also at bottlenecks. They will also be deployed with our patrolling staff, with one policeman and one warden instead of another policeman on the bike.”

Informed Kakde, “We have asked for a total of 50 wardens and hence are hopeful of getting more of them.”