NEW DELHI, May 1: They brave the rains, the scorching heat, the dust, and over and above tons of sinister smoke that the Capital's 27 lakh vehicles emit everyday. For the 2200 policemen and women who spend about 3-4 years in the traffic department of Delhi Police, life becomes a nightmare with the killing pollution taking its toll on them.``The cops out on the roads directing traffic bear the brunt of the toxic fume belted out by the vehicles,'' says M. S. Upadhye, DCP, (Traffic). ``They inhale the concentrated air and are vulnerable to several serious diseases. And the problem is growing as the city's pollution level is rising alarmingly.''Ask Rampal, a traffic constable who has been posted at the ITO crossing since April 1. ``I have been in the department for the last six months and by God's grace though I have not yet contracted any major disease, I feel miserable at the end of the day particularly since I have joined the ITO crossing,'' he says. ``After my duty hours are over, I have severe irritation in the eyes and throat. No amount of sprinkling of water on my face can remove the burning sensation from my eyes,'' says the constable. Ali Ahmad Khan, posted near Vikas Sadan, Ring Road, has a similar story to tell. ``I have spent two years in this department and my eyesight has become weak. Several times I had to see an eye specialist for treatment and they have told me it's because of the toxic fume that I have to take on every day.''And if Khan had got an eye ailment, Pillai (not his real name) got afflicted with a more serious malady, tuberculosis. The traffic cop contracted this disease after he had spent two years on road duties. He had to be treated in hospital and after recovery was transferred to another department.Well, if these policemen had been affected physically, there are some who have lost their mental balance too because of this harrowing health menace. Like this policeman posted at Madhuban Chowk near Pitampura who preferred to be anonymous. ``The smoke, coupled with the heat and dust leave us physical and mental wrecks.''Worse is the case of home guards, who get a pitiable sum of Rs 63 a day and work shoulder to shoulder with those on regular pay rolls. To get to know what they go through, listen to Mahender Singh, 55, of Bhajanpura who has been handling traffic for more than four years at ITO crossing. And which is in contravention to the rule applicable to regular constables that duties of all constables have to be rotated from a more polluted area to a less polluted one. ``There is a lot of discrimination between regular policemen and home guards though we do the same kind and amount of duty,'' Singh says, who suffers from several respiratory problems. But the plight of the home guards is a different story.Two studies were carried out to assess the damage wrought by pollution on the hapless traffic policemen. The first one was done by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) in 1991. The second study was carried out in 1996 by a team headed by Dr S. K. Chhabra, head of the department, cardiorespiratory physiology of Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute. The team which examined a total of 56 policemen, observed in its interim report that traffic policemen are severely affected by vehicular pollution. Nine out of these 56 policemen (16 per cent) had chronic chest symptoms. Out of 32 subjects on whom bronchial provocation tests were carried out, 22 were found to be hyperactive. While 20 per cent of policemen after one year in service suffer from chronic bronchitis, irritation of eyes, nose and throat are the most common problems suffered by these policemen.``We, on our part, are trying our best to improve the lot of traffic policemen,'' claims Upadhye. Included among these measures is organisation of regular medical camps and rotation of duties from a very polluted place to a less polluted one. ``We have also sent a proposal to the government to introduce a special diet allowance for the policemen.''Upadhye also cites the case of a donation of 1500 masks by the Indian Oil Corporatation to the Delhi Police. ``The policemen are not health conscious and as such not very interested in wearing them,'' says. But Khan does not agree. ``First of all they are inadequate in numbers,'' he says. ``The second and more important thing is they are cumbersome. Wearing them you can not blow the whistle which you are supposed to do every half an hour to control an unruly traffic.'' Officials in Delhi Police think that what is really needed to protect the policemen from the deadly smoke is to impose some sort of a ceiling on the number of vehicles in the city. And force vehicles to use catalytic convertors. But till then, traffic cops remain at the receiving end of the malicious fume.
