FIRST STIRRINGS
ps pasricha
The traffic policeman
The former DG of the Maharashtra police looks back on a body of work in the spheres of traffic management, computerization and more
AFTER post-graduating in physics with specialization in electronics in 1968 from Roorkee University, I cleared the UPSC in 1969 and joined the Indian Police Service (Maharashtra cadre) in 1970. After the training with fellow IAS trainees at Mussoorie, I went for a four-month training course for IPS trainees at Mount Abu. My first posting was at Satara as Additional Superintendent of Police, managing the entire rural area for a year. Thereafter, my regular post was as Superintendent of Police, Thane, and I became the chief of Crime, Thane region. In those days Thane Urban, Rural and the Navi Mumbai Commissionerate were combined. I was there till 1974-75.When the Emergency was declared in 1975, I got a call from the office of the Director General of Police, Maharashtra, saying I was being posted as SP, Kulaba (present-day Raigad district). I was instructed to report to my new posting that day itself. I was there till 1977.
Two incidents relating to the Emergency are etched in my memory. I had to detain one of my own officers under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). There were lots of complaints against this inspector, Nagre, about excesses against the people of Kulaba. In another incident, I arrested the strongman of Uran, Tukaram Hari Warkare, much to the chagrin of the political bosses. He was such a despicable person that he did not leave a single marriageable girl of the area. He spoiled the lives of about 16 such girls. He ran a sort of parallel administration, with brutal justice and illegal activities like gambling, illicit liquor dens and so on.
When I put him behind bars, there was tremendous political pressure on me. Those were the days when smuggling was rampant in the coastal belt of the Kulaba district, now Raigad district. The place was also sensitive as the RSS had its regional headquarters at nearby Murbad.
With my background in electronics, in 1977 I was posted as SP, Computer Operations. A new post had been created as the era of computerization had just begun. I was in charge of ushering in the computerization in the police department. In 1978, I was posted as Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Wing. In those days the department had not expanded to what it is today. You had only four zones in the Mumbai Commissionerate. Today we have 12. I was in charge of Zones I and II.
At the end of 1979, I became DCP, Traffic. By 1981, the World Bank-funded Bombay Urban Transport Project (BUTP) had started. In those days we did not have any concept like traffic management. There was no scientific management of traffic systems at all. In 1982-83 I enrolled for a doctorate in traffic management at the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai.After completing my PhD I was made the Traffic department chief. The doctorate was conferred on me in 1986. I put into practice whatever I had learnt and came up with a case study model. In those days projects were often held up due to delay in allocation of funds. I devised a model which was based on low-cost effective solutions whose execution was not hampered by allocation of funds. The projects were already under implementation by the time the funds arrived.
When I put Warkare behind bars, there was tremendous political pressure on me. In those days, smuggling was rampant.
I experimented a lot with the knowledge I had gained; at least 90% of the projects were a great success. I also learnt a lot from my failures. We need to improve upon our traffic management systems. We need to upgrade our traffic signaling system and traffic signboards, and enforcement of traffic laws needs to be strict. Take a look at the traffic system in Flora Fountain or Nariman Point in Mumbai, it is so smooth and nowhere does one face any traffic jams.
Just building flyovers does not solve the problem. Given the number of cars coming onto the roads each year, a new flyover adds to the number of vehicles that pile up at either end of that flyover – increasing the duration of the traffic signal time. If you build a flyover on the route of motorists, they will always try to test the route and try to find an easier way to reach their destination.
What you need is excellent road marking and signage, and you have to take physical stock of the traffic density and volume on the road to determine the duration of the traffic signal. You have to put up railings along the central divider, but also have adequate zebra crossings at the defined lines. Besides, you need to have good quality road surfacing. These days we often witness double parking on roads and lane cutting. If you have proper visible signage at regular intervals informing the driver of the next road diversion, it enables him to slowly move his vehicle into the desired lane and exit the main road when the diversion comes.
Singapore has torrential rains but they do not have potholes on their roads. When they begin construction of a flyover, they finish it within four to five months. You cannot say you will take five years to build one flyover. We take into account the economic cost ratios while building flyovers and roads. But we do not take into account the social costs, the loss of time and loss of precious fuel.
There has to be a scheme of incentives and disincentives. A penalty of Rs 500 does not mean anything for the contractor. Increase it to Rs 50,000 and if the contractor fails to comply then it should keep on increasing double-fold after, say, every 30 days. And a reward should be given for the best services offered.
In 1979, I reinvented this concept of Road Side Police (it was invented by an Englishman in 1957) and roped in school children. We trained them in traffic rules, road safety norms and public manners while on roads. The result was that these kids forced their parents into following basic manners like not littering on the streets and obeying traffic rules. A system of negative points needs to be introduced so that once the driver logs 10 negative points, say, for drunken driving, rash driving, lane cutting or jumping signals, his driving licence is suspended permanently.
It is high time we have an Online Driver Information System and Registration of Vehicles. This is all the more important in these times of terrorism. Not all traffic systems are computerized. The result is that when you seek information on a car involved in any terror or crime activity, chances are that the information may be delayed or unavailable.
A NOTHER problem is that of allowing heavy-duty vehicles or multi-axle vehicles (Articulate Vehicles) to enter city limits during rush hours. There are norms laid down for their movement during the night. Most of them do not have proper signal indicators. I empowered my men and posted them along with tanker owner association members and made such vehicle drivers repair their indicators. We did not even spare the state-owned Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses.
During my tenure I ensured that the taxiwallahs and autorickshaw drivers did not go on strike at the drop of a hat. We heard them out and solved their problems. True, a certain amount of corruption is there. My humble request to the supporters of Anna Hazare is: let us take a vow not to give or take a bribe. Then 90% of our job will be done.
It is a question of building national character. In 1986, in Japan I bought a watch and asked for a warranty card. Pat came the reply in broken English: “Sir, the whole nation is the guarantee for you.” In the Japan of the mid-1950s, when there was scarcity after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two Indians were travelling on a train to Osaka and cribbing about hardly any food being available. They were overheard by a 12-year-old boy who promptly got down at Nagoya station and came back with a bagful of eatables for them. He pleaded: “Please do not go back to India and say that there was nothing to eat in Japan.”
Around early 1990 I was posted as chief of the state CID in Pune. The next posting was as the head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Mumbai. I then had to rush to Amravati district to quell the communal riots there. Following a brief stint as Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, in 1993 I was promoted to Inspector General and made Joint Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, in Mumbai for two years. Then, for reasons best known to my seniors, I was made DG, State Police Academy, Nashik. I was also given charge as special DG, Training, with 14 other police training institutes under my command. In 2003 I was made Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, and two years later, on April 13, 2005, I was made DG of the Maharashtra police and retired in 2008.
Singapore has torrential rains but no potholes on roads. When they begin construction of a flyover, they finish within five months.
The highlight of my career came in November 2005 when I was given additional charge as chief coordinator of the Guruta- Gaddi tercentenary celebrations at Nanded due in 2008. It was exactly 300 years since the Guru Granth Sahib was handed down to the Sikhs. The project had an outlay of over Rs 2,500 crore. The ceremony was attended by the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Congress president and others. We brought out a special edition titled Guru Manyo Granth on the Takht Sachkhand Sahib Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib, Nanded. Today, since the board managing the gurdwara has been dissolved, I am in charge of all the 14 gurdwaras here. I have written 14 books on traffic-related issues. g
(As told to Prashant Hamine)
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