WHY CITIES IN MP NEED A CRANE BEDI

Roads in MP towns are death traps

NK SINGH 

Road Transport Ministry’s recently released report analysing road accidents in 2016 did not surprise anyone in Madhya Pradesh. Indore achieved the dubious distinction of being among the top five cities in the country with most dangerous roads. The other cities in that list are metros like Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Kolkata, the smallest of the metros, is two and half times as big as Indore. Bhopal and Jabalpur are vying with Mumbai, six times their size, in accident figures.

Roads in MP’s urban areas are virtual death traps. In Bhopal, one of its best planned towns, driving used to be a pleasure. Now it is a pain. Motorists may drive or pedestrians may cross a road only at risk to their lives or limbs. People who suffer most, for no fault of theirs, are the poor pedestrians. They account for 14 per cent of road fatalities in MP, according to a study by National Centre for Human Settlement and Environment.

In Bhopal, once a law-abiding city, motorists seem to be free to violate traffic rules, with cops looking on as silent spectators. “They do not want to offend the offenders,” says eminent physician Dr NP Misra, who has lived in the town for over five decades. Motorists jump red lights, drive at speed in wrong lanes and two-wheeler drivers talk and text on mobiles with impunity. Along with drunken drivers, they are the people who endanger other’s lives. The cops waste their energy on enforcing helmets – people who endanger their own lives.

Traffic cop looks the other way because he has to save his job. Every offender has a political connection and the first thing he does is to pull out his mobile after being caught red-handed. A constable stopped a BJP leader’s son driving a bike without number plate at Bhopal last week. The brat responded by slapping the cop. When he was arrested, his mother, the BJP leader, created a ruckus at police station. Politicians started calling. “Very few constables want to be posted in the traffic wing,” says Rishi Kumar Shukla, the Director General of MP Police.

Think twice before you assume that violation of traffic rules is a small problem. Studies have shown that it is in direct proportion to a city’s regard or disregard for rule of law. Why is it that Mumbai has less road accidents than Indore, which is a fraction of the metro both in size and population? Indore, the commercial capital of MP, is also known as its crime capital, with goons flourishing under political patronage. It figures in the list of six most crime-prone cities in the country.

If crime is there, can traffic violations be far behind. Indore motorists are notorious for non-observance of traffic rules. People often take pride in reckless driving skills. But things changed last year, all of a sudden. People started obeying traffic laws. Even zebra crossings became sacrosanct. What led to change was tough policing, assisted by technology. Automatic cameras captured violators and police issued thousands of notices. “We could collect over Rs six crore as fine,” said the then IG of Indore, Vipin Maheshwari.

The man credited with the turnaround was DIG Santosh Singh, who was sent to Indore with the specific task of curbing lawlessness in the commercial capital of MP. Known for his unconventional methods to curb crime, Singh was the bitter medicine that the crime-infested city needed. Crime graph came down under Singh’s 18 month tenure and citizens heaved a sigh of relief. When he was transferred from Indore last December, it evoked protest from citizens, with traders taking out a rally and shopkeepers downing their shutters.

Santosh Singh, who is now the DIG of Bhopal, believes in “broken window” method. The theory suggests police can make cities safer by cracking down on minor crimes like vandalism. It creates an atmosphere of lawfulness, preventing more serious crimes. As Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani implemented it, bringing down violent crimes by 56 per cent in 1990s. The turnaround of NY is recognised by experts as one of the most remarkable stories in the history of urban crime. “I take traffic violations seriously because of this reason,” says Singh.

But that success story has a sad tailpiece. Once Singh left Indore, the town returned to its old ways. One can again see people brazenly jumping lights and driving from wrong side. Offering roses to violators, as a home minister of MP did once, is not going to improve traffic. “What we need,” says DGP Shukla, “are strong deterrents.” He points out that last year police issued 12 lakh challans for traffic violations in the State. Apparently that was not deterrent enough. The story of Crane Bedi may be a myth. But what we need in MP are tough officers who can enforce rule of law, restore our system to its old glory and earn the citizens’ gratitude.

My Column POWERS THAT BE in DB POST of 25 Sept 2017

Email: nksexpress@gmail.com. Tweets @nksepxress