Traffic regulation is not as much a good satisfaction for the traffic cop as it is a good convenience for a traveller in any part of the world and same holds good for the travellers in cities and towns across Jammu & Kashmir. However unfortunately travellers are alleging exploitation by the traffic cops and in turn traffic cops are blaming both the travellers moving in passenger and private vehicles and as well as the commuters for all the traffic violations noticed on congested roads in cities and towns across Jammu & Kashmir. No disagreement with the routine practice of punishing traffic violators but disagreement is there when it comes to the allegations of harassment and exploitation by travellers in the name of traffic regulation by the traffic cops in cities and towns across Jammu & Kashmir. Punishing travellers for traffic violations in an area where there is parking facility can’t be questioned by anyone but punishing travellers for violating traffic regulations in an area where there is no parking facility in the immediate vicinity is not only questionable but also objectionable. Unfortunately in Srinagar the traffic cops can be seen capturing video of vehicles on their mobile handsets even if people drive their vehicles normally on city roads and such an action of the traffic cops is surely not only harassment but also an exploitation of the people punished in an unavoidable situation. In fact giving traffic cops the liberty to capture video of any moving vehicle is a bad practice which needs to be immediately stopped for the purposes of reducing the chances of the exploitation of travellers by the traffic cops in the name of traffic regulation and instead CCTV cameras need to be used effectively for checking traffic violations like parking on the road sides.
“Administrative wisdom demands that tools and practices used for checking traffic violations in other parts of the country are also used in Jammu & Kashmir also for regulating traffic in cities and towns across Jammu & Kashmir as this is the only way to bring transparency and accountability in the traffic regulation” .
The J&K traffic police itself must have noticed it that nowhere else in the country traffic cops are allowed to capture videos of vehicles as a tool of evidence for punishing traffic violators and instead almost everywhere CCTVs are used effectively to catch the violators on camera for the purposes of penalising them effectively in short time. Administrative wisdom demands that tools and practices used for checking traffic violations in other parts of the country are also used in Jammu & Kashmir also for regulating traffic in cities and towns across Jammu & Kashmir as this is the only way to bring transparency and accountability in the traffic regulation .
