“Our work hours often reach a draining 15-16 hours a day and sometimes we end up working two straight weeks without a break. By the end of our duty, not even do we suffer headaches but our blackened uniform testify the disturbing pollution levels in the city,” says a traffic police constable.

A recent RTI query has revealed that the duty hours of a traffic police officially stretch to 14 hours and can even extend depending on the volume of traffic. “Our job is to stand. In peak hours, our socks start to stick to our feet and it gets difficult to take them off without having a damaged skin,” reveals a traffic police officer deputed in West Delhi on condition of anonymity.

Shockingly, the Delhi Traffic Police is currently not functioning at its full strength, which is not even half of what has been recommended. The Bureau of Police Research and Development had estimated that the traffic police personnel’s strength in Delhi should be nearly 15,000 but their current number is only little above 5,000. Muktesh Chander, the Special Commissioner of Traffic Police in Delhi was concerned about his men, and says, “We expect them to stand only at peak hours. Every profession has fixed duty shifts, consider the example of a pilot, a driver or a doctor, but when it comes to traffic police, it is a general expectation from us to function round the clock, like a robot.”

Alternatively, steadfast Muktesh Chander goes on to give a viable solution to this problem. He says Delhi’s Traffic police must have three shifts, first being with maximum deployment, second may have same number and the last one should have the least personnel out of the two.

Muktesh says, “As the traffic in Delhi runs round the clock, there should be round the clock deployment of traffic personnel as well. We just don’t have enough men, hence the same personnel end up working in the morning, evening, night and even on holidays.” Mukesh also syas his department has already sent a request to the Home Ministry for deployment of nearly 6,000 more officers in addition to the current strength of about 5,000.

Adding to the woes of acute staff shortage, the seemingly casual functioning within the traffic police seems to be an aggregator in deteriorating the quality of life of these police officers. Department’s callous stance on problems was visibly evident in the lenient and seemingly misleading reply to a RTI query that had questioned the availability of air pollution masks and other apparatus/ equipments being issued to the policemen for air pollution protection.

When the RTI was appealed on grounds of providing misleading and incomplete information, the first appellate officer of Delhi Traffic Police acceded to the requests and issued an order for rectification to this RTI within 15 days. Shockingly, this deadline has passed and the order still awaits implementation.

Sources reveal that air pollution is a big concern for policemen and the department stands ill prepared. These sources go on to mention that there are insufficient number of air pollution masks to fulfill the requirement of all policemen. When Muktesh Chander was personally asked about the latest availability of these masks, he obtained fresh procurement figures on the spot and indicated that the department had sufficient quantity. Despite this, the policemen still cry foul when asked about air pollution masks. A personnel managing traffic near Delhi Cantonment said, “We have heard that a few amongst us have started to get masks but as of now, nothing has come our way. Some of us have been managing it from hospitals, which provide it free of cost.”

On emphasising on this matter, the Special Commissioner (traffic) Muktesh Chander issued the telephonic orders for ensuring one mask for each officer. Chander telephonically instructed the DCP Traffic Headquarters, “We should have the same number of masks in our stock as our strength. Make sure every TI (traffic inspector) ensures that their men get the mask. Issue instructions and let us be very confident in proclaiming that we have done the needful.” Moreover, as these masks are disposable in nature or require a frequent cartridge change, it becomes mandatory for the department to continuously replenish its purchase.

The department also takes initiatives to organise free health check-up camps for its officers and internal confusion also surfaced here. A Delhi traffic police constable said, “Our department conducts regular and free health check-up camps for us, but sometimes we don’t get the information in advance.”

Despite this being a praiseworthy move, not all officers are being benefited. Denying the apparent communication gap to disseminate such information, Muktesh Chander says that these camps are held in parts or phases as the whole department cannot be covered in one go. It was also learnt that in a few cases some officers don’t choose to take care of their wellbeing. Here, it is advisable for traffic police to be more aggressive in creating awareness about a healthy lifestyle.

The traffic police have many bureaucratic battles to fight, the ones that require tremendous courage and also promise to even all the odds.