A city the size of Pune should run on tracks, not roads: DCP (traffic)

Pune's increasingly problematic tryst with traffic has been a hot topic not just in the city, but also beyond it for some time now. TOI dissects the on-ground situation with deputy commissioner of police (DCP-traffic) Himmat Jadhav to shed light on the challenges and solutions for this department.Q: What are the police doing to manage traffic taking over the city? A: We are doing our best. We use six different ways to gather information about congestion and rely heavily on multiple technologies for quick identification and resolution: Google Maps data, live traffic data from TomTom's website, our own wireless network, WhatsApp groups dedicated to information about jams, citizens reporting via social media platforms and CCTV surveillance. We monitor roads round-the-clock. We also have a dedicated control room to monitor cameras, and officers to monitor messages and feed through the wireless network. But, although we rely on tech, we still have to send our officers to actually decongest areas. So, manpower shortage is a big hurdle. Q: Have you asked for more personnel to be assigned to the traffic department? A: We have 1,147 traffic personnel in the department. State govt allocates a certain number of posts and for 30 divisions under Pune city traffic police, we have 1,000 allocations. Of these, about 150 staffers are on weekly off, medical or personal leave at any point of time. Another 70 work in the office, issuing challans, 35 drivers for various patrolling and department vehicles, 35 writers, 70 assigned to other desk duties and some 50-60 appearing in court or assigned for patrolling or bandobast duties. An additional 60 officers are assigned to night duty, from 10pm to 7am. This leaves approximately 675 traffic personnel on ground to cover the entire city. Even a city like Nagpur, which has 12 divisions and much lesser area and vehicles to cover, has 150-225 staff per division. We have constantly made requests for additional staff, but in vain. In fact, even though we have only 1,000 allocations, the CP already gave us 150 extra staff. And yet, it is far from enough. Increasing the allocation is in state govt's jurisdiction. It is difficult to manage with the manpower we have. Even for wardens, we often liaise with different companies, who help when they can. There are no govt- appointed wardens. However, these wardens can do what police personnel can. Our priority is to keep the traffic disciplined, seamless and commuters safe. It is easy for citizens to blame us when traffic goes out of hand, but they don't see the conditions we work under or the resources we have at our disposal. We are doing our best. Q: What are the other challenges you face? A: Unfortunately, the city has increased drastically in the last few years and so have the number of vehicles on the road. Any metropolitan city the size of Pune should be run on tracks, not on roads. The number of vehicles and available carriageway width should be inversely proportional, but ours is skewed. We have a lot more vehicles than our roads can manage. Further, our public transport system should have facilities every couple of metres, but that is not the case. We have enough buses, but their frequency is lacking. More importantly, the buses are so big that they find it difficult to manoeuvre internal city roads, causing congestion instead of reducing it. Breakdowns are also a huge problem. Q: Many road projects have been going on for years. Does this also affect traffic management? A: Definitely. We need the outer ring road to be finished on priority as this will considerably reduce traffic passing through the city. Infrastructure projects like grade separators, flyovers, bridges or road widening should also be completed within the stipulated time. They can't go on for months, which is what is happening right now. Take the University Road flyover project, for example. It has gone on for nearly five years and is yet to be completed. How long are citizens to wait? Elsewhere, the civic administration told us that the Sadhu Vaswani bridge would be done in six months, but it has been over two years now, and will need six to seven months more. It's easy to blame traffic police, but other factors that make it difficult for us to streamline vehicular movement are often overlooked. This is the reality. Q: What new infrastructure is in the pipeline at present to better manage traffic? A: There is enough CCTV surveillance currently, and a new Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) project is in the pipeline, after which signals and cameras will work more efficiently. However, there is another year for this to become a reality and be streamlined. We have been coordinating with Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) repeatedly, but the process is taking too long. There is some hope in the fact that the new PMC chief is aggressive about innovative ideas and their implementation, so we are positive of change. But everything takes time and with the population rise, the situation is not getting any better on ground while we wait. Q: Any other projects or drives planned this year? A: The Pune Traffic Police (PTP) app is doing well and we are working with citizens to improve it and make it more user-friendly. We will continue to do so. We recently held drives against triple-seat riding and modified silencers. More of these will be planned throughout the year.