Meerut cops get taste of own medicine; 254 fined in 3 days for driving without helmet

MEERUT: After acting tough with city residents, traffic police officials in Meerut have now started cracking down on fellow cops for violating traffic norms. In the past three days, as many as 254 civil policemen have been challaned for not wearing helmet while driving.
Officials said that in the first three days of the week-long drive that was started on Wednesday, 254 policemen have been fined Rs 100 each and the number is likely to go up in coming days.“Challans have been issued to inspectors, sub-inspectors, constables and officials from the local intelligence unit (LIU). A majority of the violators were found to be of constable rank. We have had several instances in past wherein a violator pointed out at a local policeman flouting rules and questioned our staff about the action taken against him. After concluding this drive, we will launch a fresh campaign to cover the general public,” Meerut SP (traffic) Sanjeev Bajpai told TOI.
While 193 policemen were fined on Wednesday, 33 were challaned on Thursday and 28 on Friday. “This particular drive was started with a special focus on policemen. However, in the last three days, we have also issued fines to 582 local residents. An amount of Rs 75,900 has been collected from these 836 offenders,” said Bajpai.
A constable who was caught driving without helmet on the first day of the drive, told TOI, “I wear helmet every day. It is a sheer coincidence that today when I am not wearing one, traffic policemen have caught me. It is a good initiative and I personally support it.”
The SP said that during the drive, traffic cops will be deployed outside the Police Lines and SSP office to see that no policeman flouts norms.
Meanwhile, locals residents have welcomed the move. “Finally, we will have policemen leading by example. Such drives should be held more frequently,” said businessman Puneet Sharma.
“Now that even cops are not being spared, residents will be extra cautious and will ensure that they don’t flout traffic norms,” said Girish Arora