Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi on Sunday made it clear that no undue harassment of drivers would be allowed in the name of odd-even road rationing and volunteers for the cause would have to comply by the directions of the police. Through a series of tweets and speaking to The Hindu on the subject a day before the scheduled date of the odd-even notification, Mr. Bassi cautioned against “vigilantism” by volunteers.
While police will remain the primary enforcement agency for the drive, the State’s transport department as well as all the District Department also has the power to issue challans. In addition, home guards, civil defence and other volunteers will join forces for traffic regulation and prosecution. In this context, Mr. Bassi’s tweets were aimed at demarcating those authorised and those who aren’t along with guidelines for the latter category.
“We want this drive to be an organised activity rather than a fragmented or volunteer driven one. We cannot permit people to do overt activities on the roads as it is unlawful for them to stop anyone without any authority,” the police chief told The Hindu .
He also requested the State Government to ensure that all volunteers assist the police and act as they are told adding in the same tweet that “…sic ALL NOTE: Rule of Law & Vigilantism are incompatible.”
The police are also planning to hand out identity cards to those who register themselves as sentinels as well as provide traffic education to them. Asked if the police had plans to provide more staff to add to the 5000- odd strong traffic unit, Mr. Bassi said they would consider it if the need arises.
“But come what may, nobody will have the right to obstruct someone or turn the driver back. If anyone spots a violation, he or she should bring it to our notice,” said Mr. Bassi.
In some of his tweets posted in the evening, the police commissioner also came up with a coinage, an acronym ERER reminding his followers of what he termed as four guiding pillars of traffic unit -- Education, Regulation, Enforcement and Road Engineering.
