PANAJI: The home department has moved a proposal to the state government on the traffic sentinel scheme, on whether to make it operational or scrap it.
The government had decided to re-introduce the traffic sentinel scheme in a revised format, capping a traffic sentinel’s returns, starting January 1, 2021. The decision had been approved in the cabinet meeting held in July.
A senior official said that the file is currently with the chief minister’s office. “It is up to the government to take a final call,” the official said.
Officials said that the decision to keep the scheme on hold was taken as it was felt that the substantial financial liability incurred in its implementation would affect its self-sustainability in the pandemic situation. Ministers and MLAs had also demanded that the scheme be kept in abeyance based on complaints from the public
Introduced in November 2017, the traffic sentinel scheme aimed at reducing traffic violations with active participation of people, and to create traffic sense among various sections of road users through community policing. It also aimed at penalizing traffic violators through violations reported on the traffic sentinel app by enrolled traffic sentinels.
Though introduced with a noble motive, the scheme soon became a source of controversy. Complaints poured in about mischief by some sentinels and of people being persecuted for minor violations. Soon there was growing demand that it be dropped completely
Officials said the decision to revise the scheme was taken after it was noticed that for some sentinels, the scheme had turned into a means of earnings, with them accumulating reward points entailing substantial amounts of money.
According to the scheme, sentinels can get reward points for reporting traffic violation such as driving against the flow of traffic, parking on footpaths or zebra crossing, triple riding, improper number plate, driving without seat belt, riding without helmet, using vehicle with tinted glasses, using phone while riding or driving, red light jumping and dangerous driving.