Spare a thought for Delhi’s harried traffic cops

NEW DELHI - For Delhi Police constable Dileep Singh, a day’s work means manning the streets for 14 hours at a stretch with little protection from the rains that have lashed the capital for the last few weeks . It also means irregular lunch hours and not being able to meet his family members for days.

“There are times when I don’t interact with my family for weeks together. On the worst days, I have to leave early at 5 a.m. and come back at 11 in the night - when my old parents and children are fast asleep,” Singh (name changed) told IANS.

Commuters are not the only ones braving the heavy rains and ubiquitous traffic gridlocks. The monsoon this year has stretched the duty hours of traffic policemen who put in a hard day’s work to manage the city’s chaotic vehicle movement in pouring rain, but still find themselves at the receiving end of citizens’ ire.

The rains - it was Delhi’s wettest August in 15 years - have particularly hit the lower rung of the traffic police staff who remain on the field for their entire shift. Unshielded from the heavy rains, in flimsy jackets and trousers folded up to their knees, they can be seen partially submerged in waterlogged roads managing the city’s heavy traffic.

Unlike their counterparts elsewhere in the world, they dont get raincoats or gumboots on the plea that rains are “unpredictable”.

Traffic policeman Vijender Singh (name changed) said: “We have no other option but to remain here, or the city’s traffic will come to a standstill. We’re only allowed to call it a day once the traffic conditions normalise.”

“I have developed rashes on my feet because of wearing sodden socks for 14-15 hours day after day. But there is no other option. We can’t avoid getting wet during the rain; neither can we take a day off to nurse these abrasions,” said a Delhi police beat constable.

Communication is vital in this service for initiating back-up and other emergency measures and walky-talkies are their medium, but the damp weather poses a threat to these as well.

“While managing traffic in the rains, we have to wrap and carry them in polythene bags. Communicating with other patrol parties via these in the rains is also difficult,” said a traffic constable managing vehicles on the busy Mahatma Gandhi Marg in Delhi.

It is a double whammy for them during these demanding conditions, the constables feel. Apart from managing the insurmountable traffic of Delhi, they’re also reprimanded by their seniors and blamed when the city grinds to a halt.

“We did not design these roads with improper drainage system. People refuse to listen to us and, to top it all, we’re rebuked by supervising officers,” said a traffic constable manning the Barakhamba Road near Connaught Place.

“Greater awareness of traffic rules and basic civic sense can help avoid most untoward incidents that we hear about every day,” he added and braced himself.

A beat constable near New Ashok Nagar said: “It may be the hardest and most hazardous job in Delhi.”

“I think people have started to respect us more. And that is what helps when we go back home and ruminate about the day’s work,” he added.

Asked about the problems, Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Ajay Chadha said they are planning to increase the number of traffic policemen and also modernise the force.

“After a comprehensive assessment of the present situation, we’ll be preparing a proposal for increase in the force,” Chadha told IANS.

“To help traffic constables in the rainy season we’re trying to procure an improved version of the raincoat currently in use. The rain coats, which will be worn in two pieces for better protection, will be white in colour and have reflective strips on them,” he added.

Chadha said as rains are unpredictable, they were trying to introduce gum boots.

Asked about the danger of walkie-talkies getting wet in the rains, he said that the department is in talks for providing to constables a wireless communication device that would solve the problem. But all this would take at least a year, Chadha said.

The cops also have to deal with managing heavy traffic during the Commonwealth Games. Of the total Delhi Police workforce, only 5,500 are manning the Delhi roads. Of them, 3,500 will be deployed to handle the Oct 3-14 Games.

“But after the Games, the traffic police will be ready to handle the requirements of managing the huge traffic of Delhi,” said Chadha.

A traffic constable gets a salary of just Rs.15,000 a month.

(Suhas Munshi can be contacted at suhas.munshi@gmail.com)