Traffic cops to take leaf from CWG book

Monday, Oct 11, 2010



Overwhelmed by the grand success of the traffic management for the CWG opening ceremony, especially surrounding the JLN Stadium, the Delhi Traffic Police is pitching in for applying the same model during the Republic Day celebrations in the Capital and henceforth would pursue similar model for any big events. If the traffic police have its ways, then no Central Government official up to the rank of Joint Secretary will be allowed to park their vehicles near the sitting enclosures on Rajpath during Republic Day celebrations or on the grounds of Red Fort during the Independence Day celebrations. Instead they will have to avail DTC buses from identified locations to reach there.

The traffic police have approached the Ministry of Defence seeking restriction on the vehicles of these officers that poses a hurdle during such elaborate traffic arrangements. It is pertinent to mention that no Government official's vehicle was allowed inside the JLN Stadium premises during the opening ceremony on Sunday. At present the Indian Government officials above the rank of Directors are allowed entry in their vehicles. This, however, leads to a large number of vehicles surrounding the venue. "We have written to the Ministry of Defence seeking no-entry of the vehicles up to the rank of Joint Secretaries, a rank higher than the Directors in hierarchy. This is most likely to reduce the vehicular volume significantly in the parking areas," said Ajay Chadha, Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic).

He said too many vehicles also pose a security threat as the security officials as well as the traffic cops are busy attending the VIPs. "All officers will have to avail the park and ride facility from various locations from where they will be ferried to their respective sitting enclosures in DTC buses. This will further help the police personnel focus on the common people during such events," Chadha said. According to him, some enclosures are reserved for the senior officers during the celebrations and thousands of them turn up during the function leading to congestion in parking areas.

It is worth mentioning that all Government officials of the Central Government and the Delhi Government were ferried to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the venue of the opening ceremony, in DTC buses on Sunday. Union Home Secretary, Sports Secretary, Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Defence Secretary and Delhi's Chief Secretary were the exceptions whose vehicles were allowed in the stadium parking. The traffic police chief said these officers were facilitated entry from the western gate and the enclosure had the seating capacity of 5,000. "Allowing them entry in their vehicles would have led to a gathering of nearly 2,500 cars. This helped us significantly in managing the traffic. Similar model will be put in place during the closing ceremony," he maintained.

Original news source http://www.dailypioneer.com/288972/Traffic-cops-to-take-leaf-from-CWG-book.html