Following road rules now gets you food delivery discounts

Cops tie up with popular food aggregators to off er up to 50% off to commuters who abide by traffic norms; link brought into new scheme after police’s data finds that most Punekars cashed in on food-related coupons

The quickest way to one’s heart is taken to be through their stomach — a popular axiom that the city traffic department seems to be taking rather seriously. Going the extra mile to reward commuters who obey road norms, cops have now tied up with food delivery aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato, and will be treating rule-conscious Punekars with up to 50 per cent discount on orders with the help of coupons.


The latest tie-up has taken place under the umbrella of an initiative that began on June 14 this year, known as the Aabhar Yojana. Under this scheme, commuters had been receiving a pleasant surprise over the last few weeks when traffic cops stopped them at random roads or traffic lights and checked their records — if found to be clean, these motorists were then gifted with a 10-digit coupon code on their mobile phones that would lead to various discounts.

Helmed by the deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Pankaj Deshmukh, the scheme has gained momentum in a short span of time, with at least 10,000 coupons and discount vouchers already distributed within a month. For the same, the department has tied up with over 200 stores around Pune, doling out benefits encompassing clothing, electronics and gadgets, as well as at eateries.

After engaging with their tie-up partners, the traffic department found that a majority of winners redeemed their coupon at restaurants or food stalls — as a result, their next step was to delve deeper into this sector.

DCP Deshmukh elaborated, “The preferences of Punekars directed us to rope in food aggregators to offer discounts to law-abiding commuters. So far, the response has been great, and we will continue rewarding citizens.”

When approached by Mirror about the development, a Zomato spokesperson said in a statement, “We care deeply about road safety and have been engaging with traffic police in various cities to propagate this message. We are happy to partner with Pune traffic police in our collective endeavour to encourage those who follow traffic rules, by offering 50 per cent off discount coupons.”

A spokesperson from Swiggy told Mirror that they do not have the required information available at the moment to comment.

For now, the traffic department has said the initiative will remain on till businesses back out — and, they claim the response on both sides has indicated that this may not be happening anytime soon.

Police inspector Ramesh Sathe of Lashkar traffic department informed, “Out of 10,000-odd distributed coupons and vouchers, some 3,200 have been used. After exploring the data with us and with inputs from our tie-up partners, it was gauged that Punekars have used the most coupons at Chitale Bandhu. Besides this, Tiranga Biryani and Venus Traders are also popular.”

Cops further explained that no part of this scheme is being funded by their department, as the money they acquire through fines goes straight to the treasury — the discounts are being offered solely by the store owners. The initiative aims to motivate road rule violators to conform and to reduce enforcement by offering much-loved incentives, which the public tends to respond positively towards.

Subscribing to this thought, scheme beneficiary Sarang Vahikar shared, “I was surprised by this move! But it also made me happy and I plan to redeem my coupon at a food stall or restaurant. Also, I have just cleared my pending traffic receipts off recently and had been fined several times for not wearing a helmet — I learnt my lesson the hard way, but now I am getting rewarded for it.” Similarly, another commuter, Ganesh Gandhal, said, “Traffic rule enforcement has been quite good for the last few months now one hopes this continues. I have not yet decided where I will redeem the coupon I was gifted.”