PANAJI
While the proposal for the revival of the traffic sentinel scheme is caught in a web of uncertainty, alleged pending payments to these vigilant sentinels for over three years have added to the suspense.
As if these weren't enough, a huge backlog of cases has accumulated since the scheme was kept in abeyance from July-December 2020 and thereafter scrapped in January 2021.
Among these, a significant number of cases are of violators who are yet to pay the fine whereas the remaining cases were escalated to the magistrate for necessary action.
Sources told The Goan that when the then Cabinet in January 2021 decided to discontinue the scheme, the government assured to release the pending payment of Rs 20 lakh approx. under the scheme.
This money was earmarked to be released to traffic sentinels, who contributed to the department by submitting proofs of traffic violations on public roads.
“The file is pending,” revealed a senior traffic police officer.
While opposition to the scheme upset then DGP Muktesh Chander, the State government had earlier clarified that some people had taken this as a ‘business.’
From November 2017 till January 28, 2019 when a total of 6,087 citizens were registered as sentinels, 79 Traffic Sentinels were rewarded Rs 11.92 lakh and another 206 were thereafter received Rs 55.50 lakh. A total of 75,403 cases were booked during this period through which revenue generated for the government was Rs 92.48 lakh. This excluded violations caught through overall traffic enforcement by way of which the State earned more than Rs 10 crore.
Chander told The Goan that the implementation of the scheme reduced fatal accidents by 20-22 percent in the State. He however, questioned the wisdom behind opposition to the scheme claiming if 31 murders reported in 2017 were a concern, why not for 333 people who died of road accidents in the same year?
