As the D-day draws near...

The voting day is not far away and the cops are leaving nothing to chance. There is heightened checking and bandobast in every nook and corner of the City. 

Barricades are put across during these checks but the cops don’t bother to remove them after checking hours thus not only inconveniencing the commuters, but also posing a risk to life itself as most of them have no reflectors to warn approaching motorists.

 

The police reason that there are two kinds of barricades. 

One used by the traffic police for regular checking purposes and the other barricades erected by the law and order division of the police during election time for checking purposes.

The traffic police concede that their barricades are fairly well-maintained, complete with reflectors but they say that the ones with the law and order could be old as they are not used very often. 

But either ways, the barricades that are left in the middle of the road and not cleared pose as a danger. 

Metrolife interacted with the traffic police, officials with the law and order division of the police and the ordinary people to understand what risks a barricade in the middle of the road could throw up. 

 

Kamal Pant, additional commissioner of police (law and order), says that he has clearly directed all the officers to remove the barricades from the road after checking hours.

“I wasn’t aware that the barricades were left on the roads. We conduct surprise checks and the locations are different everyday. Barricades left behind certainly pose a huge risk to the movement of traffic and are hazardous to the public. I will ensure that these barricades are removed at once,”  he says. 

Kamal further states that election checks have been heightened around slum dwellings, especially in areas such as DG Halli, KG Halli, JP Nagar, Hebbal, MS Palaya, JC Nagar and Dasarahalli. 

 

The police have managed to seize a lot of illegal cash, clothes and jewellery during election checking. 

 

For instance, Sandeep Patil, deputy commissioner of police (north division), says, “During the last one week, we have seized 13 lakh worth saris in Yeshwantpur limits, two lakh worth blankets in Malleswaram, two lakh worth school bags and shirt cloth pieces in Srirampura.

In north division alone, we have erected 18 nakabandi units. We will conduct a survey of poorly maintained barricades with no reflectors and get them removed immediately,” he assures.  

Additional commissioner of police (traffic) B Dayananda points out that there are separate barricades belonging to law and order wing and traffic.

 

“We have replaced most of our old barricades but if there are barricades with missing reflectors still lying on the road, then they must be removed immediately,” he says.  

 

The ordinary people observe that the police are active only in certain pockets of the City.

 They feel that now they are more visible only because of the elections but once that is over, they will disappear from the roads. 

Manjunath, an employee with the retail industry says, “Whenever I drive around at night, I find that there are no reflectors on these barricades that are thrown across the road and there aren’t any cops around to ensure that they are removed.” 

Manjunath Papanna, a marketing professional, sums up, “We would be riding or driving at a high speed at night and wouldn’t realise that there is a barricade. It could lead to miscalculation for any commuter.”