Bhubaneswar, March 1: More than one month has passed since an auditorium has been set up at AG Square traffic police station to impart basic road-safety lessons to violators, but not many have turned up.
Only around 50 traffic violators have volunteered to visit the auditorium inaugurated on January 10.
Police said most of the violators were unwilling to undergo the one-hour programme. "We cannot force them to the auditorium. Whenever we ask the violators to visit the auditorium, they become hesitant," said a police official.
The auditorium with a seating capacity of 50 people has a giant screen. The one-hour audio-visual programme includes traffic signs, norms, footages of road accidents and videos related to proper parking and proper use of breaks.
"Violators caught at places such as Chandrasekharpur, Nayapalli, Khandagiri and Rasulgarh are not willing to travel to AG Square. The violators, who have visited the auditorium so far, were those caught at AG Square," said a cop.
The traffic auditorium was set up to create awareness among the citizens of the city witnessed 6 per cent increase in road mishap deaths in 2016. According to the statistics, as many as 186 people died in 598 road mishaps in 2016, while the city witnessed 600 accidents in 2015, in which 175 people died. The police said 92 people were killed in other roads in the city, excluding the national highways 16 and 203 passing through the city.
Commuters, on the other hand, feel that the police are responsible for such poor turnout at the awareness programme.
"The police are penalising the offenders and also asking them to watch the one-hour programme - which is the reason behind the violators being hesitant. Instead of taking penalty from the first-time offenders, the cops should ask them to visit the auditorium," said Saheed Nagar resident Sourav Biswal.
Assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Jatindra Kumar Panda said they were planning to ask the corporate houses to send their employees to the auditorium.
"We are also planning to invite college students in batches to visit the auditorium," said Panda.
