Hindustan Times: Mumbai: Monday, June 05, 2017.
Just 1,396
police officials to man a 7,474-km stretch that’s how understaffed the highway
safety patrol (HSP) department, which cracks down on errant motorists on the
state and national highways, is.
A recent
right to information (RTI) query revealed that the department is working with
just 59% of its full strength.
Of the 39,878
road accidents including accidents causing fatal, serious, minor and no
injuries that were recorded in 2016, as many as 10,364 took place on national
highways. About 9,052 took place on state highways. The rest took place on
other roads in the city and other districts.
Data reveals
that as many as 959 of the HSP’s 2,355 posts are vacant. A majority of the
vacancies are for police sub-inspectors and constables, who work on the ground
level, register cases and handle paperwork.
As many as
110 of 139 posts for sub-inspectors are vacant. Of 1,203 posts for constables,
about 876 are vacant. As many as 180 of 208 posts for constables who work as
drivers are vacant.
“Owing to the
staff crunch, we have to work 12 hours a day. We hope to get more manpower
soon,” said an official.
“We are
trying to nab more speeding drivers and those who cut lanes. We have given
suggestions to the public works department and the Maharashtra State Road
Development Corporation, which are concerned with the engineering aspect of
road safety. They will help us curb accidents at blackspots. We are trying to
ensure that injured people are rushed to the hospital within an hour of the
accident,” said Vijay Patil, deputy commissioner of police, HSP.
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