Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 9 Aug: Traffic wardens of the capital region, under the umbrella of the Itanagar Traffic Wardens (ITW), took out a peaceful rally from Akashdeep to IG Park here on Monday morning, seeking full-fledged induction into the traffic cell, Itanagar.
Speaking to reporters, a traffic warden said that, in 2017, the then chief secretary Shakuntala Gamlin had assured that the traffic wardens would be taken under the traffic cell, DSP, of the Arunachal Pradesh Police.
“Our demands are not irrational or illegal. We work on the streets daily. We might get run over by a vehicle and no one would take responsibility. The government has not even given an assurance that we or our families would be given assistance if something happens to us on the road. There is no guarantee of our safety,” he said.
The traffic wardens informed that they have submitted memorandums to the state government from 2011 to 2021, “but there has been no response from the government and we had to conduct this rally to get the government’s attention.”
“When we submitted our last representation to the CMO last month, we were told that we had taken an undertaking when we had joined the job under muster roll basis, but we also reminded the higher-ups that in 2017 we had been appointed under the contingency category. We also presented the note sheet of the cabinet, stating that the government has approved our induction,” they said.
The traffic wardens claimed that, during their meeting with the ‘CMO’, they were informed that it was not possible for the government to regularize the jobs of 158 traffic wardens.
After the meeting with the CMO, they said, they also submitted a representation to the chief secretary but their plea was ignored.
“It is wrong to claim that we should not seek regularization. They (the government) held the walk-in interviews, engaged us on duty, and then appointed us. Our duty is to make a request for our rights; making it a possibility is the duty of the government,” the traffic wardens said, and expressed disappointment with the state government for ignoring their appeals.
The traffic wardens also requested the cabinet members to consider discussing their memorandum in the assembly session scheduled for 27 August.
“We hope that our demands would be looked into at the earliest,” they said, and informed that they would decide on their next step after the Independence Day celebration.
