Mumbai Since March 6, the Mumbai traffic police introduced a lot of new measures for the safety and security of motorists and pedestrians alike, but the citizens of the city have expressed discontent at the lop-sided approach by the authorities to address the traffic problem.
On Saturday, the traffic police implemented ‘no honking’ for two hours between 5 pm to 7 pm, although they had announced the initiative just a day earlier on Friday. This caught several motorists off-guard, who were slapped a fine of ₹1000. Nakabandis were set up at 100 junctions across the city where 1,856 motorists were caught for unnecessary honking and 14,754 challans for other traffic offences, including 213 First Information Reports (FIR) for wrong-side driving were issued.
When Sanjay Pandey, the present Mumbai police commissioner, took charge of the post at the beginning of March, he had announced that solving traffic-related grievances would be his priority. Since then, 8,36,191 motorists have been caught and issued e-challans for violating traffic laws and as many as 51,200 FIRs were lodged against wrong-side drivers across the city.
However, citizens believe that the police and civic authorities should work on improving the road conditions, which would be a better option as most traffic violations and offences are caused due to poor roads and even poorer traffic management by the authorities.
“Stricter rules are good, but there is another aspect that also needs urgent attention. Badly maintained roads and an equally erratic traffic management system, prompts motorists, especially two-wheelers, to violate traffic rules. If the two problems are addressed, people will automatically start adhering to rules and city commute will also become bearable,” said Gulam Ali Sayani, a 84-year-old resident of Bandra.
The general public are also of the opinion that fines are being issued left right and centre and at the discretion of the traffic officers, which is unfair and also corrupt.
“There is no platform for citizens to discuss traffic grievances with the authorities,” said Kapil Peshawaria, a resident of A road in Churchgate. Agarwal, whose grievance had been rejected by the traffic police on their website, stated that he had been wrongly charged with an e-challan on unnecessary honking
“On May 1, during the IPL match at Wankhede stadium, I was getting out of my building in my car when I saw a taxi halted in the middle of the road and a police car ahead of the taxi. The officer in it was busy chatting with someone. I honked as the area is not under the silent zone. Initially, when the officer ignored me, I honked again. The irritated officer just clicked the photo of my licence plate and I received an e-challan five minutes later. I raised a grievance on the website but could not explain the incident as there is a restriction of words in the complaint column,” said Peshawaria.
The recent decision to penalise pillion riders for not wearing helmets is also another “unnecessary” move, as the more urgent issue of road and traffic management issues are being ignored.
“I was unaware of the ‘no honking’ drive,” said a taxi driver, who did not wish to be named, who was caught at the Elphinstone junction on Saturday evening. “The ‘no honking’ drive will not work because in this huge population, there is always someone in front of us. Without honking, we won’t be able to get anywhere,” he added.
The 63-year-old Ashit Shroff, who works at Fort, received an e-challan last Saturday for ‘causing obstruction to traffic’ and was slapped a fine of ₹500 after he parked his four-wheeler on the road behind Reserve Bank of India.
“When I contacted a police officer to raise a grievance and said that there was no sign of no parking at the spot, I was told that it was the civic body’s fault for not putting up the sign,” he sighed.
When contacted, traffic police officers said that people have been complaining about mental and physical issues due to noise pollution, resulting in high blood pressure and sleep disorders.
“Similarly, senior citizens, children, and pregnant women tend to be more affected. Over the past two months, we have taken strict action against those flouting norms. Mumbaikars have therefore been urged to not use modified silencers, pressure horns, and honk without reason. We have been creating awareness about the action taken against flouting traffic rules and continuously asking them to refrain from breaking laws,” said a police officer.