03 August,2017 07:31 PM IST | Mumbai | midday online correspondent
A traffic cop taking a bribe was one of the most common occurrences in the city, but now, all of that may just come to an end - promises the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic)
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A traffic cop taking a bribe was one of the most common occurrences in the city, but now, all of that may just come to an end. According to a statement issued by the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), now citizens can send an email to the traffic department and be sure that an inquiry will be conducted within 72 hours of the complaint.
These measures have come into place after constable Sunil Toke filed a petition about the large scale corruption in the Traffic department, as per a report by Indiatoday.
While initially, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Maharashtra responded to the charge by saying that there was no corruption in the department, the court termed it an âeye wash' and asked for a proper analysis of the problem.
In response to the queries put forth by the Division Bench of Justice RM Savant and Justice Sadhana Jadhav, Bombay High Court, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Amitesh Kumar said in an affidavit that 5408 CCTV cameras have been installed around the city to monitor traffic cops making it easy to incriminate those who were corrupt.
The affidavit also stated that the department had put a number of measures in place to minimize cash transactions and therefore corruption in the department. He mentioned, "The Mumbai Traffic Police are equipped with 900 e-challan handsets of the latest technology and this has wiped out old cash collection system. The towing vans also have to take photographs of vehicles parked in no parking areas before towing the vehicle which is uploaded on the central server and this system has left less scope for enforcement personnel to involve in illegal activities."
He also said to the court that, the "Traffic Police is planning to induct 100 Body Worn Cameras on a pilot basis which will record (audio and video) the whole communication between the policemen on streets and traffic violators. This recording will be in an un-editable format to bring evidence based policing and transparency in the system."
Kumar also promised to curb corruption and added, "Duty rotation is being effectively enforced. 13 policemen against whom confidential reports regarding indulgence in corrupt practices have been received have been removed from chowkies and attached to the multimedia cell of the department."
And finally, Kumar added that people can send their complaints about corrupt traffic cops to complaint.mumtraffic@mahapolice.gov.in
