On Monday night when heavy rain caused water logging and traffic jams in several suburbs,including Baner,Pashan,Aundh,the absence of Punes traffic police on the streets only worsened the situation. Senior officials of the traffic branch though claimed that cops had reached the spots,they also accepted that there were lapses as most of the constables had left for home with their duty over by 9 pm. Sanjay Tikhe,a resident of Pashan who was going home from University Square,said,There was no sign of any traffic cop when about 200 vehicles were stuck on the road. Another resident of Pashan said,There was not a single traffic cop in Bremen Square. Manoj Patil,deputy commissioner of police (Traffic),who was on leave on Monday,said,We had despatched our staff to the places from where we got calls. Water logging and traffic jam was a problem. Patil added,About 85 per cent of our staff goes home after 9 pm. So it took some time for them to take their positions. S G Sonavane,assistant commissioner of police,who was in-charge of the city traffic in absence of Patil said,It is not that our constables were not there. We agree it took a lot of time for them to reach the critical spots. But situation was under control by 11 pm.
