28 August 2010

Lawlessness in the enforcers

Police – the word generally evokes a sense of caution to say the least in an average human mind. Most often, it brings about  a fear given the way they actually behave with an average joe. Since they form part of the Law enforcement body, they are supposed to be walking talking law. In Bangalore, the Khaki colored {a mix of Black, Yellow & Red} policemen are the law & those that wear a white shirt and khaki trousers are the traffic

Most bangaloreans would agree with me that these folks no longer bring that sense of caution to mind, instead they are probably mocked at . Why are they mocked at, simply because they don’t stand for any of the morality that they are supposed to guard & enforce.

Today, i was at Shivajinagar -  a commercial center in bangalore – the chaos that i witnessed along with a traffic policeman was maddening. Those from this city will know that Shivajinagar is an utter mess and i would say thanks to this policemen the mess is just getting worse by the day. Its appalling that this has been allowed to happen without any check. Hazrat Kambal Posh Road or the Broadway Rd near the market is a pretty broad one in that area. However, its a lane that has huge number of commercial establishments, its always crowded to say the least


Coming back to today, as i was entering this road from the Russell market side this road was already jammed by a mini truck unloading some stuff into one of the shops. Few minutes into the drama, a traffic policeman rides nearby on a Pulsar bike and is now witness to this jam. He stands by for couple of seconds and then shows some actions at the truck driver… nudges his way into the jam and then rides away. As a commoner, i was happy at the sight of this cop thinking that he will act and clear up the road that never happened. It took me another 20 minutes to clear out of it. As i drove ahead i saw this same constable standing by the side of a road and again chatting around, probably trying to make another roll-call and then turn a blind eye. The department’s boss says, no vehicle should be stopped for checking, unless the vehicle has violated some law, however the constabulary of the Bangalore traffic police and their Senior offices, still hide behind trees and lay wait for people to  ‘make-up’ a cause and fine the gullible

Would the esteem of this department go up in my sight or lower…. ! ?