Hyderabad: Traffic halts just 10 mins for VVIPs, says top cop

Hyderabad: Ever felt like you have waited for half-an-hour in the heat, noise and grime of prime time traffic for a VIP convoy to pass by? Well, the police says it is much shorter than that.

Disagreeing with the complaints that motorists have to wait for a long time when traffic is stopped to allow smooth passage for the VIPs, Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar told the Telangana High Court that vehicles are halted only for five to 10 minutes at junctions when VIPs are on the move.

The court had directed Mr Kumar to file a counter-affidavit on a public interest litigation filed by city-based advocate V. Somase-khar who had alleged exce-ssive action by the traffic police to stop vehicles to make way for the VIPs.

The petitioner complained that being made to wait for a long time for VIPs to pass causes immense trauma and pain to commuters whose seamless travel to their destination is hindered.

Mr Somasekhar said the traffic can be stopped only in the case of movement by VVIPs, but the police was stopping vehicles even for officials who were not in the high-risk category.

To this, Mr Kumar explai-ned to the court that the Chief Minister and certain VIPs faced a security threat. The Chief Minister faces a high degree of threat from anti-social elements and Maoists and is placed in the Z-plus category of security, he said.

Traffic is halted for five to 10 minutes at junctions for the passage of the VIP convoy which includes the CM’s convoy. Traffic movement is restored for general commuters immediately afterwards, the police commissioner said

He said sometimes due to the thick flow of traffic, like at Begumpet where the CM’s camp office is located, the stoppage may take place for 10 minutes. He said the police takes all possible steps to inform the people about the movement of VIPs in advance.

“The prime duty of the traffic police is to provide hassle-free movement of traffic. VIP security is also part of policing, and special care is taken that emergency vehicles are not stopped even during the passage of the convoy,” the police commissioner said.

The PIL is expected to come up for hearing next week.