Call them the ‘human traffic lights’ or ‘cones’ or cops, they have been present dutifully throughout.
The Meghalaya Traffic police personnel have been there diverting traffic, directing the manoeuvres, issuing slips and of late scraping the ‘darker shade’ from cars amidst the plethora of complaints and letters and statements relating to the hugely ignored traffic jam.
It is anyone’s guess that the meagre movement in traffic in the city is due to a single force behind it…the Traffic personnel.
After the failure of automated signal posts and the ‘fantasy’ road expansion, coupled with the haywire traffic diversions, not to forget the numerous ‘one-ways’ and ‘no-entry’s’, the visible and streamlined movement can be seen thanks to the handful who toil in the streets. According to the statistics provided by Additional SP (Traffic), Herbert Lyngdoh, Shillong has its entire platoon of cars and trucks shown the way by an eye opening 254 personnel! It will surely be a mockery of governance if a dozen soldiers guard our country’s boundary, but this dearth in number of traffic cops has been ignored. Lyngdoh also gave an insight into the other unseen magnitude and said, “We have 254 personnel and they look after an average of 88,000 cars and 13,530 trucks on a daily basis. That is a humongous feat when you look at the ratio being 1:500”
Now, apart from praising our traffic men for their efforts, one needs to shed some light on the fact that some basic amenities and facilities are to be provided for this ground staff whose productive duties make sure that the monstrous accumulation of cars in the streets move, if not flow…less they pile up on each other.
“Every personnel is assigned a 6 hour shift, i.e. from 8am to 2pm and a second shift starting from 2pm to 8pm. In that regard I believe proper traffic sheds and other facilities should be provided as they are out in the streets the entire day”, asserted Herbert.
Considering that the traffic cops face the brunt of pollution when doing their duty, a basic protective gear is surprisingly missing. The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG Report), Civil and Commercial for the year ended 31 March 2011 has facts that may raise a few eyebrows. The CAG report provides data from the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) on the air quality level from its five Air Quality Monitoring Stations (AQMS). The tabulations showed that in two AQMSs (Police Bazar and Dawki), while the concentrations of Suspended Particulate Matter, Sulphur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide were within the prescribed standards, the concentration of Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter(RSPM) or Particulate Matter-10 (PM10) far surpassed the prescribed standards. Police Bazar showed a staggering 84% excess of PM10 over the national standards. Masks with protective films and filters are an absolute necessity for the personnel in the street who are being subjected to the increasing RSPM levels which have been documented to cause chronic and acute effects on human health.
It would be childish to ignore the CAG report findings which states that 4 per cent of petrol driven vehicles and 57 per cent of diesel driven vehicles have their vehicular emission well above the permissible limit. If this is not concrete enough, consider the CAG report which furnishes information from the Director of Health Services, Meghalaya and tabulated data indicates a whooping figure of 3,54,932 patients suffering from diseases caused by air pollution.
If the upgrading of arms and ammunition can be considered, by the government, for the security forces that safeguard our existence, basic protection can surely be considered for the force that streamlines our existence.
Apart from masks, the urgent need of the hour is construction of proper traffic sheds. “We can definitely opt for a proper shed with locker facilities where the staff on duty can rest, keep their belongings and use it as a shelter”, said Lyngdoh. Another traffic police stationed in the busy Malki junction said, “We have to be in the middle of the street and what is the guarantee that a driver does not lose control and run over us?” To make matters worse, they are deprived of helmets and it just remains a decorative showpiece as the helmets they have are for ceremonial purposes only.
Adding to the woes of insufficient manpower in the streets is the tragic lack of equipments which will aid the staff on ground duty. Replacing the LED ‘mini-torch’ attached to mobile phones, the need of providing every personnel with a flashlight to verify documents should be addressed urgently. The ‘Michael Jackson’ white gloves should pave way for LED sticks which will indicate green and red lights for better understanding of commands at night. An officer on duty at Dhankheti stated that at times people fail to interpret signals. “Firstly we are at ground level owing to which, at times we are hardly seen by the drivers who mistake us for pedestrians. This becomes worse at night when a few signals are broken because the hand gestures and whistles are not clear enough.”
Better reflective vests will also be appreciated for the ones used by them now have a fairly less potential of being noticed.Apart from this, a cap for the sunny day, a raincoat for the rains and a few more facilities would definitely do some good.
The ‘blame game’ is most played when highlighting lapses in advocating laws but with 254 personnel, one can’t expect them to be there right from giving signals, directing traffic, running behind an illegally parked car, issuing challan and then narrowing down on the law breaker. Taking a stand on this issue, Lyngdoh stated, “Automated enforcement has become an absolute necessity. This is the next big step after the much needed installation of CCTVs in the city’s busy junctions. This will surely ease the load on the ground staff as we can capture images of a law breaker, zoom into the number plate and send them a challan later by post.” He also added that this was definitely not a one man show. “We need co-operation from the District Transport Authority, Government of Meghalaya to help set up a database of all the registered vehicles and this work has to be done in tandem with the Police Control Room who will eventually look into the enforcement of laws.”
Highlighting the efforts of the traffic cops, the Additional SP stated that night patrolling has also been intensified as maximum flouting of rules are seen at night.
With the Traffic Department carrying out their duties wholeheartedly amidst the traffic snarls, the government needs to look at the problems being encountered and show gratitude for another reason that official vehicles move with extreme fluidity thanks to the co-ordinated removal of cars on their way even in stagnant situations. Amenities will make things easier on the part of cops who devote their time showing the way to the ugly fleet of cars which are a sharp contrast to elegance and mechanical perfection with engines turned off and left in a corner.
(By Nawaz Yasin Islam)