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Busy September takes traffic police’s focus off other drives
Spread too thin over the past month because of Ramzaan and Ganpati festivals and the Ayodhya verdict, the Mumbai traffic police have not been able to focus on the campaigns it had initiated.
Spread too thin over the past month because of Ramzaan and Ganpati festivals and the Ayodhya verdict, the Mumbai traffic police have not been able to focus on the campaigns it had initiated.
The result: Campaigns such as the ones against the misuse of beacon lights and improper number plates have suffered, they said.
Traffic police officers said since there is a shortage of manpower in the department because the personnel were busy with bandobast duties all of last month, they have not been unable to concentrate on the campaigns and drives as much as they would have liked to.
The most recent campaign announced by the traffic police on social networking site, Facebook, about cracking down on illegal red and orange beacon lights is yet to start. “There is nothing new because all the officers were busy with the bandobast the previous month,” said Brijesh Singh, additional commissioner of police (traffic).
The traffic police had started cracking down on vehicles with improper number plates two months ago but this drive has also suffered in the previous month. “We had made many cases in August however we had bandobast duties last month because of which the other drives were not being carried on a large scale,” said a traffic police officer, requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The traffic police have not been able to update their official webpage on Facebook since September 22 when they had posted information on changes in routes due to Ganesh immersions. They blame this also on bandobast duty.
Citizens, however, continue to post photos of those violating traffic laws. Most of these are about improper number plates.
“We have acted on these complaints. But even that has suffered during the previous month,” said another officer, requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
