A traffic warden, Rafiq Wazeer Shaikh, 38, died in Mumbai Saturday after he fell into the sea while chasing a tempo driver who allegedly violated traffic rules on the city’s Coastal Road.
The recent incident has once again highlighted the issue of how traffic wardens face similar risks to those encountered by traffic police. Yet, they lack adequate health and life protection coverage, even in cases of on-duty fatalities.
Here is a detailed breakdown of the challenges faced by traffic wardens, their roles, and the dangers they are exposed to.
Who are traffic wardens?
Traffic wardens are privately hired contractual workers who assist traffic police in managing vehicular traffic on roads. Additional traffic wardens are deployed during major bandobast in the city, especially during Ganeshotsav and other major festivals.
Various government bodies, such as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), also provide wardens to the traffic police through contractors to manage traffic in areas around key infrastructure projects. They are usually assigned to help reduce the workload of the traffic police.
Do they also receive traffic police training?
Traffic wardens, after induction, receive basic training on managing vehicular traffic and adhering to rules and regulations from the traffic police department. In Mumbai, traffic wardens get training at the traffic police headquarters in Worli.
What are their working hours, and how much do they get paid?
Traffic wardens work in 8-hour shifts and receive a monthly salary of around Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 from the contractor or the firm that hired them. Many wardens complain that they do not receive their salaries on a regular basis.
“When it comes to work, traffic wardens are given all the work the traffic police do, but when it comes to giving facilities to them, wardens are treated like watchmen. Wardens are essentially security guards working on the roads in hazardous conditions. It is better to do a security guard’s job with fewer risks than doing a warden’s job,” said Manoj Darji, who worked as a traffic warden for nine years before quitting the job during Covid. He currently works as a supervisor with a security firm.
In what adverse conditions do traffic wardens work?
Traffic wardens work in harsh conditions and are exposed to air pollution and heat, much like the traffic police.
“Traffic police get helmets, masks, caps, water, etc., and other facilities, but we get nothing. Due to constant exposure to pollution and dust, traffic wardens become more prone to breathing-related issues, including chest infections and tuberculosis (TB). I have been diagnosed with TB and have to undergo treatment for the same,” said Darji.
Traffic wardens work similarly to traffic police, but do they receive the same level of respect?
Wardens are often taken casually by motorists. “Forget respect, people do not even listen to us, as we have no government uniform or identity card. In road rage cases, we are abused and sometimes assaulted during brawls with errant motorists. If the traffic policemen we work under are good people, then they help us get the errant motorists to pay the compensation or get booked by the police. But most of the time, the traffic police are not bothered. We are completely at their mercy,” said Darji.
Do wardens get life cover?
A Mumbai traffic police officer said any policeman in Maharashtra, including the traffic police personnel, gets an accidental death cover of Rs 1 crore from the bank, which has all the policemen’s salary accounts. This life cover is in addition to the various insurance covers a policeman receives from the state government. But traffic wardens do not get any life cover even if they die while on duty. There is no provision in the police department or other government bodies for providing compensation to wardens if they die while at work.
Darji said, “If the private firm wardens work for a reputed one, then they provide a provident fund facility and health cover to the warden and his family, but not many firms do this. If we meet with any accident, we take care of our medical expenses on our own.”
Does the Mumbai traffic police have a policy in place for safeguarding wardens’ basic rights?
RTI activist Chetan Kothhari, who also volunteers as a traffic warden, said the Mumbai traffic police have no policy in place to safeguard the basic rights of traffic wardens. Kothhari said several requests had been made to the Mumbai police to issue identification cards to traffic wardens, but they had been in vain.
“Wardens have no insurance cover or health plan. Mumbai traffic police should have a policy for wardens, as they work in the same conditions as traffic police do,” Kothari said.
Traffic wardens are privately hired contractual workers who assist traffic police in managing vehicular traffic on roads.
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