By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Shillong Traffic Police has decided to extend the duration of duty hours from 7am till 9pm stating that Shillong was turning into a happening city where most of the activities in various localities usually start after 8pm.
“We have decided to increase the duration of working hours to keep track of the various activities which usually takes place after 7 and 8pm,” East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Nangkiew Syiem told The Shillong Times here on Monday.
Syiem mentioned that earlier, over time duties were only maintained in busy areas like Khyndai Lad and Polo but it was noticed that the same trend had to be carried out in all the main junctions of the city due to the increasing evening hour activities involving cars stopping at certain junctions playing heavy music and the likes.
Stating that the traffic work for the traffic personnel has been divided in two shifts-from 7am-1pm and 1pm till 9pm, the SP (Traffic) said that “We are well aware of the difficulties the traffic personnel has to go through, that is why we have divided the shifts into two sessions to ease the burden and to carry out the work effectively.
“At present, the home guard personnel are assisting us with the management of traffic and the attachment of constables from various police stations has also helped a lot in easing the traffic work,” Syiem said while shedding light on the working patterns followed.
Syiem mentioned that in places where the traffic personnel could not be posted due to lack of manpower, the police have kept signboards in many areas but there were times when people would still oversee the signboards and flout traffic norms.
The SP Traffic also mentioned that there were many projects in the pipeline like setting up a Traffic Umbrella at Mawlai Petrol pump junction and Malki for the safety of the traffic personnel posted on duty.
Syiem stated that the cooperation of the locality heads have helped the traffic branch to a great extent while urging the general public to cooperate with the police to ensure smooth and effective traffic regulation in and around the city.