Bhubaneswar, June 3: As the sun continues to sizzle and the air is laced with humidity, women personnel of the traffic police, along with their male counterparts, are literally feeling the heat. Working eight hours at a stretch, these traffic police personnel are vulnerable to heat strokes and dehydration. Yet they continue to perform duty at several important intersections in the capital.

Most women traffic personnel said they considered the sultry summers as a test of their stamina and mental strength.

“Over the years, managing traffic in Bhubaneswar has become a challenging task. It entails a huge amount of responsibility. Although it becomes difficult to stay under the sun for hours together, there is no escape,” said a woman constable, who has been managing traffic for the last two years.

She said that despite using sunscreen lotions, there was no respite from the blazing sun. “The heat radiated from the roads is unbearable. However, we are instructed not to cover our faces with handkerchiefs. I have not been keeping well since the past few days,” she said.

Some others said the recent installation of fans inside traffic kiosks had hardly done any good to them. “Since the temperature is uncomfortably high, the fans only circulate the hot air in the kiosk. At times when it becomes unbearable, we take a breather under the shade of trees. By day end, we are so exhausted that we hardly have the strength to drive our two-wheelers,” said a traffic policewoman.

However, a woman cop said they could not use umbrellas as they had to use their hands constantly for signalling. “Wearing the hat throughout the day makes my head spin. We would like to request the authorities to replace our sunglasses which turn ineffective after three or four months of use,” said a woman traffic constable.

If these were not enough, the gruelling summer has posed another unusual problem for women traffic personnel. At a time when consuming as much water as possible is advised to avoid sunstroke and dehydration, women constables have to drink water in a calculated measure as there is a dearth of exclusive toilets from them near most of traffic kiosks.

“Either we have to hunt for the nearest toilet or rush to our homes, which is quite inconvenient. These days we are using the toilet at a nearby hospitals and hotels,” said one of them.The traffic department, however, said utmost care was being taken to make cold water and glucose available to the traffic police during summer. A senior officer said fans were being installed in different traffic posts.

“The department had also provided umbrellas and sunglasses. As far as the problem of ladies’ toilets is concerned, we are trying to come up with a solution. But, for the time being, we have requested all hotels and hospitals located near the traffic intersections to let the women personnel use the toilets,” said the officer.