Delhi man, who lost his son in road accident, gets inducted as traffic sentinel
New Delhi: On Monday, Delhi police commissioner, Amulya Patnaik, launched the traffic sentinel scheme as a part of the National Road Safety week celebrations. As many as 319 people were inducted with Delhi Traffic Police as traffic sentinel.
Among them is 72-year-old Ganga Ram who lost his son in a traffic accident around three years ago while he was crossing the road at a busy intersection in Delhi’s Seelampur area.
Following the incident, Ganga Ram, who owns a TV repair shop, decided to ensure that no family go through what he has suffered.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, he took it upon himself to man the chaotic stretch to prevent any such accident.
Ram was officially inducted with Delhi Traffic Police as a traffic sentinel on Monday.
Besides Ram, 318 more were included in the group which will help the police man busy intersection and internal roads.
Ram said, “After my son’s death, I come here and man traffic for at least eight to 10 hours a day.” He reaches the intersection around 9 am, when peak traffic rush begins, and stays there till around 10pm.
“I belong to a very poor family. After my son’s death, my daughter-in-law is the sole earning member. My business of TV repairing barely runs. The dress combination makes people follow my directions,” he said.
After his neighbours saw him wearing torn shirts “on duty”, they got him the traffic police uniform stitched.
Special commissioner of police (traffic) Depender Pathak said, “Ganga Ram knows the Seelampur and Maujpur area so well that his expertise will be of great help to us. He will get a new uniform of sentinels and he can continue his service to the society.”
“These sentinels will be given identity cards, uniforms, reflective jackets and caps so that motorists can recognise them easily and adhere to their directions. This scheme is a community engagement programme,” Pathak added.
According to Pathak, the sentinels will support the over 5,000-strong traffic police unit since they know their respective residential areas.
