Mangaluru City Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Kumar R Jain appealed to the public to join hands with the police as volunteers to work as traffic wardens and effectively manage the unprecedented increase in vehicles during peak hours.
Speaking during the ‘Sanchara Samparka Diwas’, a public meeting organised by Traffic East Police Station at Kadri, to discuss traffic issues, he said “Once selected, the volunteers will be trained and will assist traffic police at important points, especially during peak hours. “Traffic wardens will have to spare a minimum of four hours in a week for managing and controlling the traffic,” he said and called upon people to enroll as volunteers. As a social responsibility, people can become volunteers in managing the traffic, he said.
“To bring in road discipline, we need to make our presence felt on the road. When we have enough traffic wardens near the schools, then we can serve in a better manner,” Jain said.
“The city police have identified security guards of schools and colleges and have sought their assistance in helping the children in crossing roads, ensuring that parents park their vehicles properly without causing any inconvenience to the flow of traffic on the road,” the Commissioner said.
The Traffic Warden Squad was formed in the city in 2015, with nonagenarian Joe Gonsalves as its head, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 99. Sureshnath M L, a retired professor of St Aloysius College, is the head of the Traffic Warden Organisation (TWO) in the city. The city police are mulling over the uniform of white shirts and blue pants for the traffic wardens, DCP B P Dinesh Kumar said.
‘Visible violation’
Following complaints from the public about traffic police stopping two-wheelers in spite of having documents, the Commissioner said that vehicles are not stopped without any visible violation. The traffic police (ASI and above rank) are using the body-worn camera which will record any violations. “If the public comes with specific information on vehicles being stopped without any reason, then we can cross-check on the same,” Jain said.