DALHOUSIE
: Struggling to contain the
traffic
chaos and snarls during peak tourist season, Chamba administration has come up with an idea to recruit student traffic volunteers to streamline the ever-burgeoning traffic congestion.
To begin with, six student traffic volunteers have been recruited by Chamba police who have been assigned duties at Dalhousie bus stand, Subhash Chowk and Gandhi Chowk to ease the traffic movement.
“We have started hiring
student volunteers
under the pilot project in Chamba district and have first deployed them in Dalhousie during current tourist season. We have received enormous response as tourists as well as local residents' complaints about traffic congestion have dropped significantly,” said superintendent of police (SP), Chamba, Monika Bhutungru while talking to TOI on Saturday.
She said that the project was inspired by the Orissa government’s Student Traffic Volunteer Scholarship Scheme (STVSS).
Traffic congestion and parking are one of the major problems in the the hill town Dalhousie and nearby places of tourist interest prominently among them Kala Top and Khajjiar.
Allocated parking space in Dalhousie was around 300 vehicles, including roadside parking whereas weekend sees an influx of over 3000 vehicles and as many as daily 1500 vehicles during week days, said the SP.
Giving details about the newly recruited student traffic volunteers, Monika said that anyone above 18 years of age having a minimum qualification of ten plus two could become the volunteer. They were supposed to work for three hours a day on daily remuneration of Rs 100.
Equipped with identity cards, whistle and reflective jackets, the traffic volunteers were provided two-day training at police line Chamba and police station Dalhousie before their deployment, she said.
She, however, clarified that the volunteers were not given any independent powers and were seen as support system to the existing police personnel.
Stating that the volunteers had been deployed at heavy traffic junctions in Dalhousie, she said that they would be deployed during current tourist season in Dalhousie and also during various fairs in Chamba.
“The students will get a valuable experience in policing and will also be given an experience certificate,” said Monika.