Physically Strained Traffic Police on Duty

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Published on January 23, 2020 by

The traffic police in Bengaluru are facing with an overload of work as they are less in number

The Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTC) is facing a personnel crunch.They are under working
tensions as there is an overload of work. The city has only 3,500 police personnel for a vehicle
population of over 85 lakhs. “There are very less number of traffic policemen and there are lot
violations that happen because they are less in number and there are more of vehicles and
signals. It’s a pain to see one man standing at a signal the entire day and night”, said Mr. P.
Jayram, Retired Scientist.

As per a 2015 report of the Home Ministry’s Bureau of Police Research and Development, there
should be one traffic police personnel for every 700 vehicles. By that yardstick, Bengaluru has a
traffic cop shortage of almost 71 percent. “The traffic police are very less. Police needs a lot of
mental strength to deal with the traffic in the city. The police has to be present near the school
during peak hours and also at the junctions. Sometimes there are accidents and we have to wait
till we clear them. There are a lot of tensions”, said Mr. MS Prakash, ACP, Bangalore Traffic
Police.
In addition to the challenges in managing traffic, they do not even get to make shifts, which
make their work even more difficult. “The number of Police personnel is not adequate. When
they are appointed for that their expense is very heavy. There is a ratio for it which is based on
the population of vehicles. For 85 lakh vehicles there should be at least 15,000 to 16,000 police
personnel”, Said Mr. MN Srihari, CEO Transport Agency Consultancy Service. The Bengaluru

Traffic Police should get more technically advanced to bridge the manpower shortage and their
workload.

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