HYDERABAD: As part of a unique citizen outreach program, the Cyberabad Traffic Police has roped in techies from various top IT companies to not only help the traffic police in managing the traffic but also in catching violators. Of the 200 odd active volunteers, 27% of the volunteers are women, a number which peaked this year. “My office is on the top floor and I could see the crazy traffic pile up at the Dell Junction near Lemon Tree Hotel. So when we were asked if we wanted to volunteer, I said yes,” says 38 year old Christina Castellino, an IT professional.
Christina, along with three other female colleagues manages the heavy traffic influx coming in from Dell, Oracle, Mahindra and Mylan etc in the 5:30 - 7:30 PM slot.These traffic volunteers, who render services at Wipro, IIIT, Google, Gachibowli-ORR Junction, Biodiversity Junction, wear red jackets and a badge with a unique ‘Traffic Volunteer number’. As per statistics, the volunteers reported as many as 200 violations during the week.
“We don’t expect people to change, but at least the 200 volunteers and their friends might change,” notes Krishna Yedula, head of the traffic forum of Society for Cyberabad Security Council. Meanwhile traffic officials are said to be taking inputs from the citizen volunteers. “Since they are at the spot of action, we want them to give us feedback on the infrastructure and what is needed to make things better, This will help the traffic police,” said Cyberabad Traffic DCP, Vijay Kumar.
