Pune: Standing committee of the civic body on Wednesday approved a proposal to appoint 500 traffic wardens, expected to be deployed at 250 key junctions across the city in a few months.These wardens will coordinate with the city traffic police personnel. The panel has also approved Rs 17.9 crore for the administration to appoint wardens. The appointment has been sanctioned under Section 67-3(c) of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, considering it as an urgent action in emergency situations.Shrinath Bhimale, standing committee chairperson, said the proposal was discussed on Wednesday and the committee approved it, keeping in view the increasing traffic and the need to manage it. Pune mayor Manjusha Nagpure had also instructed to immediately appoint traffic wardens to reduce traffic congestion.Earlier, the city traffic police department had approached PMC and demanded to urgently deploy wardens. A joint meeting of PMC and traffic police officials was held in this regard in Aug when PMC approved a proposal to deploy the wardens. The decision is crucial as commuters have been facing frequent traffic jams on city roads.PMC officials said the traffic police department has planned to deploy two wardens and one traffic police officer at each of the 242 intersections suggested by them. In addition, 16 traffic wardens are required for eight intersections in the Bavdhan traffic department. A total of 500 traffic wardens will have to be appointed for 250 intersections.The concern among commuters was the presence of wardens even after the deployment. They said that although the appointment of 500 wardens has been approved, PMC and the traffic police department should ensure that all wardens are present at the designation locations during their duties.The road users have said that the wardens were often seen acting against the travellers for violating traffic rules, instead of managing traffic flow at the chowks. The wardens should also undergo training sessions on how to handle traffic during rush hours.
