I happened to talk to the Head Constable Vittalbhai who is serving the police department for 28 years and has been shifted to the traffic police section for over a year now. I have been noticing him for the past one week, struggling to clear the traffic, making fine receipts, and constantly making efforts to stop the impish youth. Many times he is seen moving the stray cattle hindering the traffic on the roads. In spite of what seems to be a job filled with hardships, Vittalbhai enjoys his work a lot. However, he didn’t seem happy with the traffic condition in the city but says that the installation of CCTV cameras in some areas and volunteers from the Traffic Brigade (a private organization - those policemen and women you see in blue uniform) extend a great help. According to a survey, in Vadodara, there is just one traffic policeman to handle one lakh traffic population of the city. The figure raised my eyebrows.
It’s time to do our bit, at least for these heroes who are putting great efforts to get the situation under control. Let us treat them with respect and dignity and obey simple traffic rules that shall eventually benefit us and the nation at large. Vittalbhai symbolizes those soldiers of our country we see every day but their sacrifices and service do not move our hearts.
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