GURUGRAM:
Police are setting up advanced
traffic booths with basic amenities for cops to freshen up and rest during their shifts, in a move to improve working conditions for traffic personnel across the city.
Already, such booths have been set up at five locations — namely Sikanderpur, AIT Chowk, Bristol Chowk,
Signature Towers Chowk and Huda City Centre. Sources in the department said they had plans to have a total of 40 advance booths across the city by the end of this year.
“The aim is to provide better working conditions to our personnel and increase their efficiency,” said a senior cop.
According to police officers, the new traffic booths will work as makeshift restrooms for the cops. The kiosks have basic amenities such as drinking water, lavatories, personal lockers to keep their belongings and even bunk beds for cops to rest, furniture for official documentation, etc. The booths will use solar power for lights and fans.
In this regard, the police department had recently allowed traffic cops to take an hour’s break during their shifts. Now, these booths will give them a place to have their meal, catch a shuteye and freshen up. The rest is, however, allowed on a rotation basis during the working hours. “Cops work round the clock, and traffic police personnel are no exception to this. They cannot leave their station. And not every traffic junction has a bathroom in the vicinity. Plus, they too need a lunch break or a place to complete their paperwork. We are focused on improving the working conditions for cops, which will automatically decrease their stress level and improve their work efficiency,” said Sulochana Gajaraj, DCP (traffic), Gurugram.
Sources revealed that the need to have such rest rooms was realised on August 28 — the day city received record rainfall leaving most roads inundated — when a senior woman police officer was supervising traffic management at Hero Honda Chowk. “The junction was choked, mainly due to the flooding of the underpass there. The woman officer stayed on the road from 7am till 3pm, instructing her team to keep the traffic moving and coordinating with various agencies for unclogging the underpass. During these 8 hours, she couldn’t use a toilet, as there wasn’t any,” said a traffic cop.
The experience turned out to be an eye-opener for senior officers, who though had known about the extreme conditions traffic cops faced the roads on a daily basis, could do little. However, this time, they decided to do something about it. The project is being executed in partnership with a private company under its CSR (corporate social responsibility).
