‘Decide on proposal to triple traffic cop strength by Mar 31’

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) has directed the state government to take a decision by March 31 on the proposal to triple the strength of traffic division of Mumbai Police by creating an additional 8,655 posts, submitted by the office of the Director General of Police (DGP).

Currently, the traffic division has around 4,400 members. Creation of an additional 8,655 posts will take its strength to over 13,000.

In an affidavit filed in the high court, Amitesh Kumar, joint commissioner of police, traffic, stated that the proposal was prepared after reviewing the staffing pattern of the Mumbai traffic division and revising the manpower requirement for regulating traffic within the commissionerate limits.

He was responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by city resident Tekchand Khanchandani complaining about traffic snarls and encroachment of footpaths in Goregaon and Jogeshwari.

As an example, he pointed out how on both sides of Link Road — starting at Hypercity Mall in Goregaon (West) and ending at Oshiwara Bridge —there was violation of a February 2009 traffic police notification that imposed restrictions such as no parking, no halting, no U-turns and no right turns.

The matter was being heard by a division bench of justice Abhay Oka and justice AS Gadkari.

Acting on the PIL, the HC had on July 18, 2018 directed the state government to instruct officers of the police and motor vehicles department to and remove abandoned vehicles immediately.

Accordingly, a grievance redressal mechanism has been made available by the traffic police to the public to complain about vehicles abandoned on roadsides.

In barely two months since its introduction – October and November, 2018 – 526 complaints were received about abandoned vehicles. In most of the cases, prompt action was taken by the police.