Bengaluru: This RTO official parks anywhere he likes!

Bengaluru: Waseem Memon, an IT professional, is still awaiting a response from the Bengaluru Traffic police to raise a violation against a jeep belonging to the RTO department. Mr. Memon had complained about the jeep, which was parked on the main road on K R Puram flyover last Tuesday in a ‘no parking’ zone, causing a traffic pile-up.

Mr. Memon, who approached Deccan Chronicle, alleged that when he raised the violation on the BTP’s Public Eye page, urging police to register a violation against the vehicle, the BTP officials allegedly informed Mr. Memon that the complaint had been raised. However, till Monday evening, when Deccan Chronicle ran the complaint number (27064) on the BTP website, the status still said, “the violation complaint is under process.”

The incident is said to have taken place on January 12, on a Tuesday morning at the entrance of K R Puram flyover around 9.45 am. “While I was on my way to office, I happened to see a traffic pile-up just before the K.R. Puram flyover. When I went to check why it was taking so long for the vehicles to pass through, I noticed a jeep belonging to the RTO department bearing (KA-02-GA-3699). The vehicle was blocking traffic which was parked just a few meters ahead of the entrance of the flyover.  The driver and the official had abandoned the jeep on the busy road for over 45 minutes,” said Mr. Memon.

When Mr. Memon went to check on the vehicle, there was no one inside the jeep, so he approached a traffic policeman on duty. “When I didn’t find anyone at the spot I approached a traffic cop on duty and asked him why the jeep was parked there. The traffic police constable stationed there had no clue   why the government vehicle was left abandoned for more than 45 minutes. Finally I decided to take the picture and post it on the BTP official site under Public Eye, requesting them to take action and suspend the license of the erring driver as  is done in other cases. But to my utter disappointment, the traffic police officials, despite following up numerous times, did not raise the violation,” added Mr. Memon.

He further alleged that it was not the first time the same vehicle belonging to the RTO department has come under the scanner. Last year, in November 2015, the vehicle had a ‘no parking’ violation complaint against it.   “It has been six days since I reported the violation and registered it on the BTP’s Public Eye. However, there is no clarity whether the violation has been raised or not. While the response from the BTP team I received was the violation had been raised, when you check on their official website in Public Eye, it says the complaint is under process. I had also sent a mail to Mr. M A Saleem, additional commissioner of police (Traffic & Security) in this connection and am awaiting his response. The officials have to lead by example, they have to take action against their counterparts so that the citizens’ faith is restored in the administration,” pointed Mr. Memon.

What is Public Eye & how does it work?
Public Eye, an initiative, was started by the Bengaluru Traffic police in the year 2012, in which the public can report traffic violations by  commuters in the city. This facility called "Public Eye" allowed citizens to report violations by uploading the photo of the violation. The complainant has to provide his valid credentials to make use of the service. He will have to enter the Vehicle Number, Offence, Date and Time of Offence, Place of Offence and any supporting remarks if necessary. Once a photo is uploaded by a user on the portal, the Traffic Management Center of the Bangalore Traffic Police checks the photo and credentials. If it finds the proof substantial enough then it raises a Traffic Fine against the vehicle and sends the fine notice to the violator. Citizens uploading the photos would receive a complaint number after submitting the complaint with which they can check the status of the complaint.