Traffic violations such as rash driving of cars, motorcycles, autotickshaws and water tankers, share autorickshaws stopping at will to take or drop passengers and obstructing traffic flow and signal jumping appear to be on the rise in Madurai.
While admitting a rise in traffic rule violations, police also cite insufficient manpower. The police strength remains unchanged for the past 30 years, and the allocation is lopsided, despite the city having close to a million vehicles of 16 types. The city police have five sub-divisions (Anna Nagar and Tallakulam in the north and Thilagar Thidal, Town and Tirupparankundram in the south) covering the 100 wards.
However, the northern side has just one traffic inspector, while on the southern side there are seven inspectors, besides a traffic Inspector (planning). The northern side has High Court Bench, district courts, Collectorate, Government Rajaji Hospital, government and private colleges and schools, Circuit House, the office of the top police officers. Vehicle movement in the north is also very high.
On the other hand, from the traffic police angle, the only major event in the south side is the annual celestial wedding and other related events connected to Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple.
By posting sub-inspectors (traffic) at Madhichiyam, Anna Nagar and Koodal Pudur stations, the officers can effectively enforce and regulate traffic rules. Visible presence of police would also help in maintenance of law and order and ensure that two-wheelere riders wore helmets and deter rash and negligent driving. The Commissioner of Police can post SIs from the AR police on “OD” and thus give a morale to the force, the official added.
The CoP’s recent move to engage police personnel in all the 100 wards has been working well, though it has just been initiated, the official said and added that by delegating powers to the subordinate officers and making them visible would certainly bring down crime rate and also improve the efficiency of police in the city.
Another senior police official said fatigue in police the personnel could be avoided to a great extent. Complaints of diabetes and obesity were on the rise among police personnel due to work pressure and long hours.