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ShareDon't be surprised if you are stopped by uniformed policemen not belonging to the traffic branch of the city police if you break a signal in South Mumbai. The Mumbai police has started a campaign to specially target habitual offenders who manage to give the traffic police the slip. Special teams of local police personnel are being deployed at important junctions and signals to keep a lookout for such drivers.
The campaign, the brainchild of additional commissioner of police RK Padmanabhan, is called nakabandi points. It has been kicked off in South Mumbai as a pilot project and involves 80 policemen stationed at 16 crucial traffic signals between Nariman Point and Mahalaxmi.
According to the police, the initiative has been undertaken to enforce traffic rules and make those who tend to break them realise their value."At most signals, there is only one traffic policeman, which makes people think they can break the law with impunity," said assistant commissioner of police (south) MU Dalvi. "People are conditioned to believe that the local police do not man traffic signals and that regulating traffic is entirely the job of traffic policemen. Now, when they see the local police at signals, they will be scared of breaking the law."
The police are focusing on people who break the rules by halting on zebra crossings at signals and on those who ride triple on motorcycles."There are many youngsters who tend to ride triple on motorcycles, which is illegal and can be fatal," Dalvi said. "We will be taking action against these offenders under the Indian Motor Vehicles Act."
The officer said there will also be random checks at different signals in the city everyday.
"On Tuesday, our deployment of 80 policemen was between Nariman Point and Mahalaxmi, but everyday we will target 16 different signals. This exercise will give us the opportunity to catch regular offenders," he said.
The deployment of policemen at various signals is from 6am to 8am and 6pm to 8pm throughout the week.
