RAWALPINDI: As the mercury soared above 45 Celsius in Rawalpindi over the past month, wardens of the Rawalpindi traffic police stood under the scorching sun regulating traffic at major intersections, including The Mall.

A warden, whose primary responsibilities include traffic regulation and enforcing rules and regulations besides frequent protocol duties, remains in the field for almost eight hours a day without any breaks or access to basic facilities. On special occasions, they sometimes have to work for 10 hours.

In a conversation with Dawn, multiple wardens spoke about apathy meted out to them by their parent department, saying other things aside, even their uniform is not suitable for sweltering weather in June and July. They say the fabric of which their uniform is made is not breathable, does not counter the heat, and even exacerbates sweating, but the authorities have not taken any steps to introduce summer uniforms to provide them relief.

Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Taimoor Khan, however, claimed the wardens were allowed to wear T-shirts during summer days, but their official uniform comprised a pair of trousers and shirt and shoes. But is the quality of this uniform up to the mark? A traffic warden said no.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity fearing reprisals, he said the department gave them a uniform every three years but due to its sub-par quality, they could not even wear it. “…what to talk about the quality of the cloth, it is of such low quality as well as the stitching that one cannot wear it,” he said.

The warden said that due to the poor quality of the material, almost every warden has to buy the uniform themselves and get it stitched. According to wardens, the department should provide them with T-shirts for summer which are relatively comfortable than the shirts they currently wear.

No water

Not only are they exposed to extreme weather elements, but their suffering is aggravated by a lack of basic amenities, particularly water. They have to leave their post to go look for cold water, which they often find at nearby petrol pumps or office buildings.

A warden on the condition of anonymity said the department should provide them cold water at regular intervals, linking the issue with a basic act of human decency. The CTO, however, said the department had made a special arrangement to serve squash, specifically ‘Rooh Afza and Desi Gur’, to traffic wardens in the field during the summer to offset the impacts of heatwave.

Similarly, the only toilets available to them are at the nearby gas stations or government-run buildings. Sometimes they have to wait in a queue outside these toilets which not only impacts their duty but also proves to be a distress for wardens who have diabetes.

In some cases, they are denied access to the bathrooms, as shared by a warden posted in Saddar who had gone to a government building to use its toilet. The chief traffic officer acknowledged that the traffic wardens have a problem with using toilets. But he said that they have no other option than to go to nearby buildings where their duty point is to use the toilet.

Aside from the lack of these basic amenities, the wardens are also overworked. Some of their duties include protocol, traffic regulation, issuance of fines for traffic rules violations, communication with emergency services, and keeping a written record of traffic violations, accidents, and arrests. Nowadays, they have been tasked with removing encroachments which goes beyond the scope of their duty since it is the sole responsibility of civic authorities.

Add to this workload is the cancellation of leaves on special occasions, such as during the Muharram and Eid holidays when their duty hours could extend beyond the regular eight-hour shift. The wardens decried discrimination, saying they should be assigned duties in rotational shifts so that all could avail the holidays on special occasions.

A traffic warden who requested anonymity said whenever the provincial authorities or the DIG Traffic sought the performance report, some photographs and media reports of ‘good work’ were shared to satisfy them whereas the ground realities are quite different. On the ground, there are some ‘blue-eyed’ wardens, who are rarely assigned field duty. These wardens have not been assigned field duties in a long time and if they are posted in the field then even that is temporary.

To improve the performance of the traffic police and incentivise their job, the CTO said he had asked the authorities to give a 25 per cent share of the challan fee to the warden, like in Islamabad and the Motorway police, but the proposal had yet to materialise.

This proposal may turn into another promise made to the wardens at their launch when the government said the traffic police would get their police lines. However, to date, this has not happened, nor does the incumbent CTO know about this development.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2024