This addition will increase the number of traffic marshals from 50 to 85, which according to the traffic police is still a low number to man a city like Noida.
Noida Authority will soon provide 35 more traffic marshals to Noida Traffic Police, which has been grappling with acute shortage of manpower for a long time now.
Layak Singh, traffic inspector (Noida), told City Spidey, “Earlier, we had only 50 traffic marshals, but now that number will increase to 85. But even that number is not sufficient to handle the traffic of a big city like Noida. SP traffic had written to Noida Authority and the state government, demanding more manpower. We had asked for 70 traffic marshals, but the authority has approved only 35 — not sufficient for the city.”
He added, “Now 25 marshals are on duty from 7.30 am to 3 pm, and the remaining 25 from 3 pm to 9.30 pm. However, when we have more marshals, the duty schedule will change.”
On April 27, Alok Sinha, chairman of Noida Authority, had directed Authority officials to provide 200 more traffic marshals to Noida Traffic Police. But Amit Mohan Prasad, CEO of the Authority, shot down the proposal and agreed to provide only 20 marshals in June, and now has approved 35 more.
According to a Noida Authority official, the CEO is of the view that the 50 traffic marshals with the traffic police are seen at only some signals, and most of them are often missing from duty — and that’s a colossal waste of public money.
With a population nearing 6.5 lakh, the number of traffic personnel in Noida is only 162. This includes two inspectors, three sub-inspectors, 43 head constables and 114 constables.
In a letter to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the city’s traffic police demanded an increase in the number of the traffic police personnel, but the demand is still pending.
