Colour code stickers creates confusion among citizens

City police continue to clear air by replying to tweets of people regularly

The Mumbai Police’s latest regulation to reduce traffic snarls at city’s entry points with the launch of colour code stickers for the vehicles on essential services has created confusion among the citizens with many taking to the Twitter to ask which sticker they could use if they wanted to step out. This despite the Mumbai Police have clarified on their Twitter handle in an extensive Q-and-A thread where they explained which essential activity would need what colour sticker.

The police continued to clear the confusion by replying to tweets from citizens on a regular basis.

“@MumbaiPolice my wife is pregnant she has to go to the doctor again and again, which sticker do i need and from where can i get it... I stay in four bunglows andheri west,” tweeted Harsh Raseen. You may please use the red sticker, which you can make one of your own sir #EmergencyStickers, replied Mumbai police. Aneesh Kulkarni tweeted, "@MumbaiPolice We manufacture sanitizer and hand wash and need to travel to and from factory in palghar to manage production and distribution...what colour sticker for us?," to which police replied, "You may use the red sticker."

“In that case what if any person has to go for banking work or some other very important Urgent work... what they shall do ? Which stickers they have to apply on their CARs?,” questioned Darshan Soni.

This also brought to fore the question of issuing curfew passes or e-passes to those linked with essential services was a better option. As far as the e-passes were concerned, they were issued in a different context at the time of a total lockdown which restricted movement of everyone except those engaged in essential services like hospitals, said former Maharashtra DGP Praveen Dixit. "This time we are equipped with a year-long experience of how to tackle lockdown and realised that essential service needs to be afloat, but with restrictions, this is where the colour coded stickers come into play," said Dixit. When asked how would one regulate the use of these stickers, Mumbai Police spokesperson and Deputy commissioner of Police (Operations) Chaitanya S said, "We are doing spot verification and asking motorists relevant questions to ensure that their travel is legitimate."

Earlier in the day, Mumbai Police had said that 286 motorists were booked under relevant sections of the IPC for disobedience of orders promulgated by public servants for misusing or not using stickers, they later said that the figures were incorrect and needed to be updated. "There is a confusion in the number of motorists penalised for sticker violations, several motorists were booked for it. We are yet to release the updated number of violation," said Chaitanya.