The Chikkajala traffic police have booked a criminal case against the Federal Public School situated on Hegde Nagar Main Road for encroaching footpath.
Traffic Police Sub-inspector V. Narayana Swamy, in his complaint to the Sampigehalli police station, said that the school’s gates encroach upon the footpaths, forcing pedestrians to step down on the road.
This not only disrupts traffic but also endangers the life of pedestrians.
“We have written to the BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) on the encroachment,” Sampigehalli police said, and added that action will be taken based on the report.
Special drive
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M.A. Saleem told The Hindu that the department has initiated a special drive and booked over 300 cases in the last two months against permanent encroachers across the city.
This is apart from booking 26,000 cases against hawkers and shopkeepers encroaching upon footpaths and over 5,000 cases against motorists riding on footpaths, he said.
“We initially warned the encroachers and issued notices to them, but since this was not of much help, we decided to book them under appropriate section of the Indian Penal Code,” Mr. Saleem said.
A deterrent
Violators will be booked under Section 283 of Indian Penal Code, arrested and produced before court. Though penalty under this section is a niggardly Rs. 200, the police are hoping the humiliation of the arrest would act as a deterrent.
Though the drive was welcomed by many long-suffering pedestrians, it has placed a burden on the overworked traffic police.
“We are working more than 15 hours a day to manage traffic and are burdened with extra duties such as clearing stagnant water. Booking cases against footpath encroachers and filing cases against them would burden us more,” said a traffic police officer.
“We are doing many of the work which the BBMP is supposed to do,” said another officer.
He added that the BBMP should help the police when the latter is taking up the drive against footpath encroachments.
