J S Kamra
In a first for the country, the Utrakhand police have created a specialized force of 60 officers to keep an eye on notorious elements on Dehradun roads. Politeness and strict action are the mantras that have been inculcated in the CPU (city patrol unit) officers. These officers are as sharply dressed as the staff of the New York Police Department. They have to address the traffic rule violator as sir/ma’am.
The impact of the force, which was set up in April this year has been such that at present 99% of the two wheeler drivers in the capital city are seen wearing helmets. The parking problem in most of the areas have gone down and the drivers seem to have developed a sense of responsibility.
According to Uttrakhand DGP, BS Sidhu, they have prepared standard operating procedures for traffic rule violators. If CPU arrests a person, it tells him/her that they have the right to remain silent and whatever they say can go against them and they can call their lawyers for legal help.
According to the state DGP, the CPU must not be known for its bad behaviour or foul language. The CPU remains polite to the rule offenders. The politeness has been kept so important that all the cases are video recorded from the first miniute so that nobody can accuse the force of harassment.
CPU is the brain child of Sidhu who believes that the unit’s primary task is to work as an enforcement agency. He is right, after all, what is the point of having 600 constables when traffic rules continue to be flouted. The duty of this unit is to both penalise the offenders by issuing challans and telling people that they have done something wrong.
To ensure high fitness levels, CPU staff has been trained by an army instructor and officials from regional transport officer taught them about the Motor Vehicle Act. For better output, these officers are made to work for only four hours at a stretch after which they take a break for the same amount of time before working for another four hours. In the last four months, CPU’s role has received accolades not only from police officials but also from the locals. On July 21, one Kunal Sharma, went to Raipur road to drop his daughter and left his son inside the car. The two year old was locked in the vehicle with its key inside. When Sharma’s effort to open the door failed, the CPU members came into action and rescued the child. On July 10, CPU staff Dayanand, Rajbhar and Anil Tiwari found a gold chain near Kargi Chowk. The chain was submitted with the SP traffic office.
In the wake of the CPU’s success in Dehradun, other districts have also begun demanding such a force. On August 16 such a force will be introduced in Haridwar.
The police department is planning to provide helmet mounted cameras to CPU personnel so that they can easily record traffic violations. Our city Jammu, is one of the most congested cities of the country. We have a pathetic transport system in which the mini busses stop in the middle of the roads to pick or drop passengers. There are no authorised stops for them. The traffic cops are only mute spectators to this. On the other hand, youth are often found riding bikes without a helmet. Here there is no fashion to wear safety belts while driving.
Talking over the cellphone while driving is a luxuary in our city while red light jumping is yet another adventure for Jammuists. So wonder what is the job left for the traffic police? Well they are generally seen busy stopping the commercial vehicles like load carriers, tata sumos etc, because they are the ones who pay them bribes because the cops always manage to find one or two things lagging in their documents.
And as far as minibusses are concerned, there seems to be a proper ‘system’ of bribes taken monthly. In local parlance it is called ” inka mahina set hai traffic walon ke sath”.
The minibusses leave behind huge smoke but they are not challaned for pollution. But if a scooty is stopped, and every document is there except the pollution certificate, it will be challaned for that. It is a matter of thought, if hundreds of matadors and trucks and busses pollute our air day and night, and they are not even stopped, not to talk of challans, a scooty is challaned for not having a pollution certificate!! Because ‘us scooty ka mahina set nahi hai matadors ki tarah’!! The traffic department should have at least a bit of shame on itself!!
The NYPD -like system can only cure this city of this mess. It should be brought to the city as early as possible so that our city can also see the day when driving is no more a mess but a pleasent activity.
(The author is a civil services faculty)
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