Ghaziabad: The traffic police have launched a special drive against wrongside driving in the city and has issued challans to nearly 500 violators in the past two days. Notably, as compared to the past two days’ drive, the traffic cops have issued only 578 challans for wrongside driving between January and May this year.TOI ran a campaign against wrongside driving last month and highlighted the major spots where this menace is rampant. SSP Vaibhav Krishna had stated that the department was in the process to increase the number of personnel in the traffic wing and changes would be visible in the coming days. “The resources are meagre at present but we are trying to improve it. It is not that cops are incapable. In the absence of cops, commuters take advantage and move on wrongside, despite knowing that it is quite dangerous,” Krishna had told TOI.This week, the strength of traffic police personnel has been increased from 160 to 290. The number of traffic constable has gone up to 190, traffic inspector to five, traffic sub-inspector to 20 and traffic head constable to 72. Moreover, there are two traffic circle officers and one superintendent of police.SP (traffic) S N Singh said, “The entire district has been divided into 20 sectors, each headed by a traffic sub-inspector. Earlier, due to the shortage of cops, one TSI used to man just one major crossing of the city, but now each TSI is managing a bigger stretch. Of all the traffic violations, we have focused on wrongside driving a lot which is quite prevalent in the city. All major crossings on GT road, NH-24 and Mohan Nagar road are being covered under the drive.”Some of the major sectors are UP Gate to Chhajarsi, Chhajarsi crossing, Chhajarsi to Lal Quan, Vaishali to Mohan Nagar, Mohan Nagar crossing and Meerut trisection to Old bus stand among others.Offenders are being challaned under Section 184 (driving dangerously) of the Motor Vehicles Act and fined Rs 1,000 for this particular violation.There is hardly any road in the city where driving on the wrongside is not prevalent. Commuters coming from Navyug market and going towards old bus stand travel on the wrong side in front of GDA office. Likewise, a large number of people could be seen going on the wrongside of GT road to cover the distance from Islam Nagar to Kaila Bhatta. Another such stretch is Meerut road trisection where commuters driving from Hindon Vihar move in the wrong direction towards new bus stand. Those travelling from Nandgram cut also flout the rule. Wrongside driving is also rampant on the road in front of ALT Centre.People even do not spare flyovers and railway overbridges to cut short their distances. An example of this can be seen in Raj Nagar where people ply on the wrong direction to move towards Sanjay Nagar block A and Raj Nagar.

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