The Delhi Police on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that no unmanned or unattended barricades would be found lying on the roads in the capital and if so found, it may immediately be reported to the Delhi Police.
The Division Bench comprising Justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal was dealing with a PIL initiated by the court in February this year on account of an communication received highlighting the misery being faced by the general public on account of unmanned barricades all over the city.
The Bench was informed that in March this year, the Delhi Police has issued a Standing Order in relation to “Procurement, Maintenance and Operational Usage of Mobile Barricades” and laid down certain measures to ensure compliance of the said Standing Order.
The measures are as follows:
a) While giving approval for barricaded checking, district DCP would consider that checking be allowed during peak hours, only in case of exigency. Further, barricaded checking be avoided at points prone to traffic congestions.
b) SHOs shall daily brief the checking staff before their deployment on barricading duty along with Mobile Patrolling Vehicle (MPV) staff, Beat officers and Motorcycle patrol of respective area about the above instructions properly.
c) SHO, Inspector (Law & Order), MPV staff, Motorcycle patrol, Picket as well as Beat duty staff shall ensures that all unmanned/unattended barricades in their respective patrolling/duty area are immediately removed from road/footpath after use.
d) Similarly area Traffic Inspector shall brief his staff that all unmanned/unattended obstructive barricades in their respective duty area need to be immediately removed from road/footpath.
e) Night Checking Officers will keep watch that no unmanned/unattended barricade is found lying on the road. They shall get the same removed immediately, if so found and a report be submitted to the concerned DCP for taking disciplinary action against the delinquent staff.
f) District Control Room shall take confirmation from the SHO/Inspector (Law &Order) about removal of barricades from road/footpath when the checking is over.
g) Senior police officers would also pay special attention towards placing of barricades during their field visits.
h) It will be publicized through social media that if anyone finds any unattended barricade on road, they may immediately report the same on 112 or may tag traffic police on twitter at @dtptraffic and Delhi Police at @DelhiPolice and the same shall be attended to by SHO of the police station for immediate action.
Terming the measure proposed at serial (h) to be a “welcome step”, the Bench observed that such a step would ensure that a check can be kept on unmanned barricades.
The Bench was further informed that the Delhi Police is proposing to take measures to streamline the proposal of putting barricades on the roads of residential colonies at night.
In this regard, the Bench granted time to Delhi Police to prepare guidelines in relation to putting barricades on roads of residential colonies and slated the matter for November 1, 2022.