Srinagar, Apr 26: Despite collecting nearly a whooping Rs hundred crore from the alleged traffic violators in the last 5 years, the Traffic Department in Jammu and Kashmir is not in possession of a single ambulance.
The highest number of penalties has been recovered by the Traffic Police City Jammu.
The official data available with the news agency Kashmir News Trust reveals that for the last 5 years from 2018 to 2022, Traffic Police National Highway Ramban has realized a fine to the tune of over Rs 15 crores, Traffic Police City Jammu over Rs 38 crores, Traffic Police Rural Jammu over Rs 16 crores, Traffic Police City South Srinagar nearly Rs 16 crores while Traffic Rural Kashmir has realized a fine of Rs over 5 crores in a single year in 2022.
The Traffic Department has made the data public in reply to the queries raised by the applicant who is a social activist and senior journalist M M Shuja under the Right to Information Act.
The information provided to the applicant reveals that not a single ambulance is in possession of Traffic Police National Highway Ramban, Traffic Police City Jammu, Traffic Police Rural Jammu, Traffic Police City South Srinagar and Traffic Rural Kashmir.
The manpower in Traffic Department regulating traffic has also been witnessing a nose dive. Traffic Police City South in Srinagar had a strength of 527 traffic police personnel in 2018 which came down to 500 in 2019,492 in 2020, 488 in 2021, and 466 in the year 2022.
The deployment of traffic personnel has also witnessed a fall in Traffic Police City Jammu,463, Traffic Police Rural Jammu 324 including 84 SPOs, and Traffic Rural Kashmir 365. [KNT]
