The soaring mercury levels could do what the police could not all these days – stop vehicles at the marked place before traffic signals.
The usual tendency is to even park on zebra crossings marked near traffic signals so as to race ahead the moment red turns green. Now with the summer peaking up with no mercy whatsoever, two-wheeler drivers tend to stop the vehicles at the nearest shade when approaching a traffic signal. The heat wave has ensured that a majority of the two-wheeler riders wear helmets too. In a way it helps them escape the blazing sun.
But there are protagonists too. When caught for not wearing helmets, they immediately point fingers to the sky for an excuse – “how can we wear the helmet in this scorching sun?” they ask the police. They swear that they are ardent helmet-wearers but for the season.
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The Deputy Commissioner of City Police (Law and Order) Nisha Parthiban was among the five officers to be transferred with immediate effect on Saturday. She has been posted as Superintendent of Police of Tiruchirapalli district. The order, however, was silent about her successor. With the post of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) too remaining vacant for about six months, transfer of one more officer without a replacement has raised many eyebrows.A traffic island set up at the Singanallur Junction on the Trichy Road about seven months ago was removed last week. The concrete structure, sponsored by a private education institution, was causing inconvenience to motorists. It was constructed without any proper orders. The sponsor, however, claimed that it was constructed after getting permission from a senior police officer who headed the city’s traffic unit at that time.
Recently a policeman was quizzed by the police from Mumbai, for no fault of his. The policeman who got transferred to the city unit about a month ago was on his way to Coimbatore when he lost his mobile phone while on travel. Of the two SIM cards in his mobile he managed to block one of them. The team from Mumbai said that the number that was not blocked was misused by a gang involved in a murder in Mumbai.
(V.S. Palaniappan, and M.K. Ananth)
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