Unlike earlier Onam seasons, traffic in Perumbavoor town was a smoother affair this time around. It was all thanks to the town’s men in white. Sporting white T-shirts, black pants and caps, ‘Friends of Police’ is engaged in controlling traffic in the town these days.
The group raised jointly by the police and civil society has helped improve the chaotic traffic in the town. Friends of Police comprises volunteers from various walks of life, from autorickshaw and tipper drivers to expatriates, in the 20-60 age group.
The genesis of the group could be traced to a WhatsApp group, Happy Traffic, formed two months ago.
“Unlike previous Onam seasons, traffic this time was a smooth affair thanks to the involvement of our volunteers,” said K.V. Pradeep Kumar, who created the WhatsApp group after he got stuck in traffic for 40 minutes when he was just three minutes from home. Since then the original group exhausted its capacity of 256 members and a second group reached 185 members, including representatives of the police, Motor Vehicles Department, KSRTC, traders, councillors, autorickshaw and cab drivers, and so on.
Training
“Thirty volunteers who agreed to assist the police in traffic control without any perks are now in the midst of a two-month training, including on-road training, while a second batch of 25 volunteers was inducted recently. They are being given an hour-long physical training, including parade, to instil in them a sense of discipline. Their passing-out parade will be held soon,” said Mr. Kumar.
They are also being trained in administering first aid, firefighting operations, and are also given legal awareness classes.
A seven-member core group and a 20-member regulatory group have been formed to coordinate the activities.
Visible results
“The impact of these volunteers on the traffic scene is unmistakable. We are getting a lot of inquiries from other places and are planning to expand it to more areas,” said Ibrahim Shukkoor, Assistant Sub-inspector and trainer of the volunteers.
