DCP (traffic) Sashikant Satao said, “Against sanctioned staff strength of 950, there are 560 traffic police currently.A demand has already been submitted to the commissioner of police Ravinder Singal, who has been positive about increasing the number of police personnel at all 10 traffic police zones.”
A close look at sanctioned and filled posts revealed that 311 posts from the constabulary ranks are lying vacant. They play a vital role in traffic management on the ground. About 560 traffic cops man over 500 intersections, including 162 major ones in Nagpur city, which has a vehicular population of over 20 lakh. Besides, vehicles registerd with rural RTO and neighbouring states and districts also ply on city roads. This means there is one cop for 3,500 motor vehicles. The jurisdiction of the city police commissionerate also includes areas like Kamptee, Hingna, Beltarodi and Koradi.
“It’s very difficult to enforce discipline on the roads with so few traffic police personnel,” cops said.
Insufficient number of traffic cops has meant that authorities have to be selective in manpower deployment. They go by priority, said cops. The top priority is busy roads. Keeping in mind the regular visits of VVIPs to the city, which is home to Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, leader of opposition and Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar, and MPCC Congress president Nana Patole, a major chunk of policemen are deployed for their smooth movement, said cops.
Frequent visits of these and other ministers also forces traffic cops to many times discharge duty for more than 12 hours a day. For almost 20 days a month, traffic cops work beyond duty hours, they said.
“The cops, if deployed, usually remain busy in issuing challans and ignore traffic management,” said Shrikant Kale, a motorist.
The flip side is that the internal roads, which witness more accidents and violations, get left out of the enforcement radar. The demand for enforcement on these roads is only growing each day, traffic grows. Of the 1,216 road accidents reported in 2023, 841 were reported on internal roads.
“But there is little the traffic cops can do,” said traffic expert Ashok Karandikar. “Traffic management has taken a back seat and most of the city roads have started witnessing jams. Even traffic violations have increased manifold,” he said.
Instead of increasing manpower, use of technology is a way out and intelligent traffic management system (IMTS) is a solution. Police should have a technology section in CP office to keep up-to-date knowledge about ITMS development, and law and order management in India and abroad, he said.