Congress protests against heavy traffic challans in Sirsa

In response to growing public anger over heavy traffic challans, the Congress party held a protest in Sirsa on Monday. The District Congress Committee accused the police of misusing traffic rules and causing trouble to citizens. They gathered outside the office of the Superintendent of Police (SP), shouting slogans such as “Police administration murdabad”.

Congress leaders said people were being stopped unnecessarily at road checkpoints, and fines were being issued randomly. “The police are focusing on meeting monthly targets instead of genuinely managing traffic. This is causing mental and financial stress to the public,” said Raj Kumar Sharma, a party leader.

As Congress members marched toward the SP office, the police placed barricades to stop them. Tension rose when no police official came out to accept the memorandum from the protesters. Despite several requests, the SP or any senior official did not meet the Congress delegation. It led to scuffles and heated arguments between the protesters and police personnel deployed there.

In a symbolic act of protest, the Congress members publicly tore up the memorandum, calling it a “Sanskar” (ritual) of rejection. They accused the police of behaving like tax collectors rather than the protectors of people. “Trust between citizens and police is breaking due to such behaviour. Innocent people are being mistreated, and this feels more like extortion than law enforcement,” said Naveen Kedia, one of the Congress leaders present at the scene.

They demanded an immediate end to what they called “unnecessary challans” and urged the administration to take corrective action. The party also warned that if their demands were ignored, they would launch a larger public movement.

This protest is being seen as a rare political move in Sirsa. For the first time in recent years, a political party raised slogans directly against a sitting SP. While public protests against the police have happened before, it is unusual for a major political group to take such a direct stand.

Many senior party leaders were present during the protest, including Veerbhan Mehta, Rajkumar Sharma, Naveen Kedia, Sumit Beniwal, Subhash Jodhpuria, Anand Biyani, Hiralal Sharma, Mohit Sharma, and Ratan Geder, among others.

The Congress has called the incident a “wake-up call” for the administration. “The government must listen to the people. Traffic rules are for public safety, not to become a source of fear and harassment,” they said.

Public divided over protest

People in the city have different opinions about the party’s protest against traffic fines. Some say officials trying to improve law and order should be supported and that citizens must follow traffic rules to bring change while others feel police focus more on giving fines than controlling crime. Many say traffic rules can be followed if roads were properly built, but ongoing pipeline work is causing traffic jams everywhere. They want the traffic system fixed before issuing fines.