‘Rising complaints of traffic police harassing citizens on highways’: BJP legislator calls for state helpline
The Union Ministry of Road Transport had given clear instructions that unless there was a clear violation of traffic rules, vehicles should not be stopped just to check documents.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport had given clear instructions that unless there was a clear violation of traffic rules, vehicles should not be stopped just to check documents. (File Photo) Ruling BJP legislator Siddharth Shirole on Wednesday urged the state government to start a special helpline or app for citizens to lodge complaints regarding problems faced by them when dealing with traffic police on state highways. Shirole cited traffic police harassing citizens travelling on highways in the state as the reason for the helpline and app.
“There have been increasing complaints that traffic police stop vehicles on highways for no reason, harass drivers and often make unauthorised charges. These types of things should be stopped,” said Shirole, raising the issue in the ongoing session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in Mumbai.
The BJP legislator demanded that the government should take appropriate action to address the issue as it sends a wrong impression to tourists visiting the state in addition to being a waste of crucial time to travellers.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport had given clear instructions that unless there was a clear violation of traffic rules, vehicles should not be stopped just to check documents.
However, Shirole said, “Still, this rule is being violated by the traffic police. The traffic police stop vehicles in front of toll booths or at some other places on the highway and ask for documents. Even though the documents are on ‘DigiLocker’ or ‘M-Transportation’, they are not accepted, and the time of passengers is wasted by citing technical reasons.”
Passengers are kept waiting for hours over seat belts, car colour, or minor technical issues, which causes hardship to senior citizens, patients and women passengers, Shirole said.
“Such harassment by the traffic police is adversely affecting tourism and the image of the state. For ordinary drivers, unnecessary checks often turn into unauthorised charges,” he said.
In the Maharashtra legislative assembly, Shirole represents the Shivajinagar assembly constituency which is part of Pune city. Incidentally, the highway stretches in Pune district face a lot of traffic jams mainly during weekends on holidays. Recently, the Mumbai-Pune expressway was blocked for over 24 hours after a tanker carrying chemical gas had overturned on the highway. Thus, the citizens travelling between Pune and Mumbai were stuck for hours on the highway causing grave inconvenience.
The Pune city has connectivity to other districts and states through various highways including Pune-Satara, Pune-Solapur, Pune-Ahilyanagar and Pune-Nashik highway. Most of these highways face traffic jams on a regular basis. The highways are also prominent spots for traffic police to take action against violators of traffic rules.
Share
