The day of Delhi Police Traffic Inspector Rajendra Prasad begins at 4 am and the first thing he does is to brief his staff about their responsibilities of the day on a messaging group. Prasad leaves no stone unturned in his area, the Patel Nagar division, to ensure smooth traffic flow.
The Pioneer team of reporters — in collaboration with Hyundai India’s “Be The Better Guy” initiative, where people are urged to be better persons on the road by following traffic rules — spent a day with Prasad and his team at Moti Nagar Chowk, one of the busiest traffic junctions in West Delhi.
On the third day after watching the men and women who keep our roads congestion-free, we spoke to the traffic police about how difficult is a job of managing traffic while standing on the junctions and on the roads. The team also asked about the impact of the job on their personal lives.
“Everyone has a perception that traffic police don’t do anything but it is one of the most difficult jobs of the police force as we are not only trained to be physically fit but also emotionally fit. We have to stand and serve the people in day, night, rain or wind facing heavy pollution.
We have to deal with all kinds of people, very often they are angry, rude and upset, possibly even sad,” said the traffic inspector.
While the traffic police personnel were explaining about their jobs and personal lives, a man on a scooter jumped the red light. The man was asked about the document and he gave an excuse, “this scooty belongs to my daughter”. The man did not have any document following which a challan was issued.
“Sometimes people argue, sometimes don’t. But we are ready for any situation. If a violator keeps on misbehaving with cops, we inform police control room,” said the traffic police personnel.
Sharing about the effect of their duty on their family, a women traffic constable said that when you are in a force, the family is the one that gets affected. “I and my husband both are working and my husband works in day and me in night shift. My children are sometimes with me, sometimes with father and sometimes with their grandparents, I feel really bad for them. You don’t get to celebrate festivals and birthdays. But we work to feed our children and serve our nation,” she said, not wishing to be identified.
Another traffic personnel posted on the Moti Nagar intersection said, “We are not saying that the traffic police are always polite but at the same time there are violators who very rude and abusive. When you stop them for their mistakes they will first cry and then will start claiming to have a Police Commissioner connection, big political connection and even sometimes abuse us and blackmail us in public saying will get a transfer for you, even when you are genuine and humble while doing your duty. But things are changing thanks to technology, particularly body cameras which is observing everything,” he said.
