CHENNAI: The Chennai city police have identified that over 13 per cent of motorists on the streets during lockdown are out without any proper reason, carrying e-pass or ID cards of essential workers. Chennai police chief Shankar Jiwal has come up with ways to curb unnecessary movement of vehicles and has given specific instructions to the personnel on ground.
While lockdown regulations are being strictly enforced, regulations exempt staff of several government departments in the city along with employees of airport, port, railways, telecom service providers, essential workers and delivery agents.
“We were initially in a fix over keeping vehicular movement down. Firstly, apart from raising checkpoints we started sectoral checkpoints where people living in a small area can afford to buy essentials within that limit. Though there were some unpleasant arguments, after a few days, vehicle movement came down,” said Shankar Jiwal, Commissioner, Greater Chennai City Police.
The police placed 10 important junctions around the city under surveillance and while checking vehicles, profiled the motorists under several categories like media, health staff, government employees, delivery agents and so on. The Commissioner said that over 37% of the people were going for medical emergencies or were medical staff.
“However it was evident that people were misusing this privilege on several instances. Once, a motorist stopped by personnel at a checkpost claimed he was going to settle medical fees and that he must hurry. When the police asked the man to dial the person at the hospital, the caller on the other end was surprised to hear that he was at a hospital, because he was at his house,” said Shankar Jiwal.
Similarly, a doctor was caught while on his way to pick up his girlfriend. In some instances, if there is e-registration, the person driving the vehicle and the name on the e-pass is different.
If there is any problem leading to unpleasant arguments at checkpoints, the personnel have been advised to record a video of the motorist and the incident. “Police can start by introducing himself and on record can ask the motorist where he is going. This can be used in the future if there is any problem,” said Shankar Jiwal.
While police are provided an eight-hour shift at checkpoints, the Commissioner has advised to increase the personnel strength so that half of them can take a break of two hours as heat can affect them. “Everyday, we are coming up with new strategies to keep vehicular movement down. Now we have formed two different lanes at important checkpoints. This is because medical vehicles can ply freely without waiting,” said the Commissioner.