Marshals outside schools: Top cop’s orders implemented in right spirit

After Commissioner of Police (CP) Swapan Sharma directed various schools to ensure deployment of volunteers/traffic marshals outside their premises during the morning and afternoon hours to prevent traffic jams, the traffic police have effectively implemented the directions by ensuring compliance from the school managements.

On Wednesday, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Jatin Bansal visited several schools to check the compliance of directions of the top cop and expressed satisfaction that schools deployed volunteers.

In July, the CP along with DCP, Law & Order and Traffic, Parminder Singh Bhandal, ADCP (Traffic) Gurpreet Purewal and ACPs (Traffic) Jatin Bansal and Gurpreet Singh had held a meeting of representatives of prominent schools where traffic snarls were reported. Then the school authorities were given clear instructions to deploy 10 marshals/volunteers to assist in traffic management. These marshals would be hired by the schools and would operate in coordination with the traffic/PCR officials deployed by the Ludhiana police.

Talking to The Tribune here on Wednesday, ACP (Traffic) Jatin Bansal said today, he visited a school at Sector 39, Chandigarh road, for a surprise inspection and was impressed to see that several volunteers were managing the traffic. They were even wearing reflective jackets.

“Though traffic remains at ease during opening hours outside the schools as parents come and leave immediately by dropping their wards but roads outside the schools witness sudden load of cars and two-wheelers during closing hours. Earlier, vehicles used to get stuck outside several schools mainly during send off time but now with the implementation of directions of the CP by school authorities and by deploying traffic marshals, traffic is found to be going smooth. Despite traffic jam rarely witness during morning hours, traffic marshals still remain present to man traffic,” asserted the ACP (traffic).

Raman Arora, a parent, who went to pick his child from Greenland School, near Jalandhar bypass, said: “Deployment of traffic marshals outside the schools is the best decision. Now, at least traffic keeps moving. I beleive if all parents who come to drop or pick their children from schools follow the traffic rules and ensure parking in proper manner, traffic issues can be resolved”.

Ankur Batra, another parent, said traffic jam was obvious during closing hours as due to lack of parking space inside schools, parents have to park vehicles wherever they find space outside the schools. Still, if parents park responsibly, half of the traffic issues could be resolved.