Traffic police to clear station backyards, recycle junk
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The city traffic police will recycle and reuse property that often lies abandoned at traffic police stations. Batteries, cameras, broken signal lights, signal posts and traffic signs are left to rot in police stations. The police will now get recyclers to take them away. The police are also planning to soon replace faulty signal lights and cameras at most of the junctions in the city and are worried about huge amount of e-waste generated once the modernisation drive takes place.
Mr M.A. Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said they are thinking of handing over old batteries and other used material to recyclers to clear police stations of the junk. The B-Trac Steering Committee that met recently decided on recycling the used material. Dr Ashwin Mahesh, one of the committee members, insisted that the producer/vendor should take back the used material and dispose them of as per pollution control board guidelines.
“A large portion of junk ends up in storage dumps of police stations, and no one knows what to do with it. Broken lights, poles, batteries… you can find all kind of junk at police stations. These are hazardous material and there is no need to store them in police stations,” Mr Ashwin said. In the last few years, traffic police property, like signal lights, poles, median dividers, grills and barricades worth several lakhs, has been damaged in accidents. Though the police fill out reports to help vehicle owners claim insurance money, no one has bothered to recover the cost to the police. “Now, we are suggesting that the traffic police, too, should recover money, so that true damage caused by drivers is reflected in their insurance record,” Mr Mahesh said.
Traffic experts pointed that the content and positioning of several signboards in the city need a recheck as many of them do not convey the intended message. “Several traffic boards are covered by trees, poles and bus-stands. The traffic police must monitor such boards on a regular basis so that boards such as No-Parking are not confusing,” said an expert.
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