Fix traffic mess, don’t claim privilege

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s direction to the police to withdraw the ‘zero traffic’ protocol accorded to him is welcome. It comes as a relief to motorists, especially in Bengaluru. Under this protocol, no traffic is allowed on the thoroughfare used by the Chief Minister’s convoy, including on long stretches of arterial roads, thus causing unnecessary inconvenience to citizens. In Karnataka, besides the Chief Minister, the Governor, the Deputy Chief Minister and the Home Minister have also been given entitlement to ‘zero traffic’, though the latter two do not usually utilise the privilege at least when they are in the capital. Former CM Basavaraj Bommai, too, had issued similar instructions, but it was followed more in the breach, with the police routinely blocking traffic all along his route even when he attended private functions, putting the public to great hardship. Siddaramaiah should ensure that his instructions in this regard are strictly followed. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, too, should follow suit. They, and other VIPs, are anyway provided a ‘green corridor’ to ensure signal-free passage for them. Therefore, there is no need to continue with a feudal attitude and block all traffic for the ‘king’ in the 21st century.

The instruction should be followed in the districts, too, where the police usually go overboard to keep visiting ministers happy by imposing unreasonable restrictions on the movement of the general public. The visits of VIPs to the districts have turned into a nuisance as they throw normal life out of gear. Of late, there have been many instances of even MLAs having been provided with pilot and escort vehicles, to which they are not entitled, putting a greater strain on the already understaffed police department, not to mention the added costs to the exchequer and the inconvenience to the public. In no other state do MLAs move around in a police convoy with the siren blaring. This happens mainly because police officers in the constituency have been reduced to handmaidens of elected representatives to whom they are beholden for their postings. The Director General of Police, district superintendents and city police commissioners should put an end to this abuse and initiate strict action against jurisdictional officers who violate norms. Elected representatives are not the uncrowned kings of their constituencies but servants of the people.

It is these very politicians, from all political parties, who are responsible for Bengaluru’s infamous traffic mess and it is only fair that they too suffer as the common man does. No government has made sincere efforts to fix Bengaluru’s mobility issues. It will help those in power take proper decisions when they experience firsthand what the ordinary motorist goes through every day on Bengaluru’s roads.