Tata Steel volunteers man traffic posts

Jamshedpur: The short-staffed traffic police force in the city will now get corporate assistance.

From Saturday, 10 volunteers from Tata Steel are helping traffic cops manage vehicles and nab violators in Sakchi and Bistupur under Sahyog - a joint initiative of Tata Steel and city police.

"The proposal came from Tata Steel a few days back and we welcomed it as there is a shortage of traffic cops in the city. Initially, we will launch Sahyog in Sakchi and Bistupur - the commercial hubs of the city. We will increase the deputation of these volunteers to other police stations depending on the response to the initiative," Jamshedpur city SP Prabhat Kumar said.

The volunteers, trained in traffic management, will be dressed in orange fluorescent jackets with white reflective tapes, gloves, traffic helmets and air filter masks.

"At present, we have given 10 volunteers for Sahyog initiative. Gradually, we will increase the numbers depending on the need of the city police. This will be an unique public-private partnership to reduce road mishaps. Tata Steel will encourage all its security personnel (nearly 600) and other employees to spare two hours for the Sahyog project. The volunteers will have to assist traffic police for at least two hours for two days each week," chief security and brand protection (Tata Steel) Gopal Choudhary, who has been instrumental in implementing the project, said.

The 10 volunteers will assist cops daily between 5.30pm and 7.30pm at different strategic locations in Bistupur and Sakchi.

"They will create awareness against traffic violation, nab the offenders and direct traffic during peak hours. It was necessary as we have only 62 traffic cops in five traffic police stations against a requirement of over 200," DSP traffic (Jamshedpur) Vivekanand Thakur said, adding that gradually the volunteers will be deployed during morning and afternoon, too.

In 2017, there had been 304 accidents in the steel city out of which 223 were fatal. Between January and April this year, there had been 103 mishaps with 52 deaths and 70 injured.

Tata Steel in association with Jamshedpur police had in September 2015 launched Augmented City Surveillance and Response Capability project under which 20 motorcycles, fitted with GPS systems, first-aid kits, wireless system and other accessories and manned by a police constable and security personnel from Tata Steel, patrolled the city streets.