CWG’s unsung medallists — traffic police

CWG’s unsung medallists — traffic police
October 16, 2010   8:43:10 AM

Rakesh Ranjan | New Delhi

In terms of legacy, the Commonwealth Games have given the Delhi Traffic Police nearly double strength, a sense of discipline amongst commuters and an idea that with Blueline buses off roads, the streets in Delhi are much safer and wider.

City’s traffic top cop Ajay Chadha has plans ready to capitalise on the 15-day Games experience, which saw the city’s perpetually chaotic traffic turn into the most disciplined one. “Enforcement was the key word. We could enforce regulations because we had the requisite strength,” claimed Ajay Chadha, Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) in an exclusive interview to The Pioneer after successful completion of the sporting extravaganza.

“Nearly 2,500 fresh recruitments were made during the past one year, taking the manpower to its full strength of 5,500 from the mere 3,000 a few months ago. This includes 450 women cops, who performed commendably well during the Commonwealth Games. Further, 200 mobile bikers were added to the force before the Games, taking the strength to 610,” said Chadha, who took over the charge of the traffic police in November last year. The total number of female staff in Delhi Traffic Police has also gone up to 450.

“The saturation of the traffic cops and the mobile patrols were more in the Games areas, but now the entire force will be put on the city’s roads. The idea is to enhance our visibility even in the interiors and make our presence felt,” he said and added that with full strength in place, they will go ahead with special drive to enforce lane driving from Monday. “Those found obstructing the movement of emergency vehicles will be prosecuted,” he said.

The traffic police chief also attributed the successful traffic management to the removal of over 1,500 Blueline buses from Delhi’s roads during the Games and said their permanent removal would add significantly to reducing road fatalities. “The movement of the athletes and officials was more frequent in the south and New Delhi areas. Withdrawal of Blueline buses from these areas proved to be of great use as far as decongestion and road safety are concerned,” Chadha said, adding that these buses presented an ugly look and their maintenance, too, was an area of concern in view of the commuters’ safety.

The Special Commissioner said the traffic police, if asked, would also recommend phasing Blueline buses out. “There should be one agency for operating the public transport buses in the Capital. The DTC has already a large fleet of low-floor buses to cater to the commuters’ requirement. In addition, new Metro lines, connecting various south Delhi areas and the neighbouring cities of Noida, Gurgaon and now Faridabad through Badarpur, are proving beneficial,” he maintained.

It is pertinent to mention here that with Blueline buses off roads and strict traffic enforcement during the Games, the city recorded a decline in the number of fatal and non-fatal accidents during this period. According to the official data of the Delhi Police, 48 cases of fatal accidents were reported between October 3 and October 10 in 2008 which came down to just 23 during the same period this year.

Meanwhile, high on spirit following a fantastic performance during the just-concluded Commonwealth Games, the Delhi Traffic Police is unlikely to give any let-off in the enforcement on Delhi’s roads. Chadha said that there have been suggestions that the dedicated lanes would continue in the Capital for the emergency vehicles. “The traffic police may consider having dedicated lanes for facilitating movement for ambulances, fire brigade and police vehicles in case of emergency. But implementing the idea would require examining the matter in detail and also understanding the fallout it could have on the normal traffic flow,” said Chadha, adding, “Enforcing lane discipline during the Commonwealth Games was a big challenge. But we imposed deterrent punitive provisions that resulted in maximum compliance of the rules. Besides, educating commuters on the road discipline and frequent traffic advisories were equally important.”

He, however, had words of appreciation for the people of Delhi for they showed little resistance and protest to the traffic rules, especially the dedicated lanes.

The traffic top cop, who has won recognition of being a tech-savvy administrator, said the initiatives, like the SMS alert service and accounts on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, were in order to enlist the public cooperation.

In addition, the new website specially designed to forecast the traffic situation 20 days in advance, too, has proved beneficial for the road users. As Chadha pointed out, they aimed at connecting to the public through the media they wanted so as to encourage their participation. “New initiatives are needed in general policing as well in order to combat terrorism by reaching out to the maximum number of people,” he added.