The rakhi-roses traffic campaign

Cops and girls turn heads, helmet wearing goes up in Bhubaneswar.Reports Dhrutikam Mohanty.

Bhubaneswar Commisionerate Traffic Police's (BCTP) fresh effort to make helmet wearing compulsory for each and every two wheeler rider will surely tempt anyone who has seen Rajkumar Hirani's blockbusting movie 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai, to remember Sanjay Dutt .' This movie is all about how ‘Gandhigiri’ still works today and becomes a panacea for all sorts of problems in the society, though our social fabric, behaviour and attitudes have drastically changed in last few decades.On October 23, citizens of Bhubaneswar experienced such a 'Lage Raho…' pattern Gandhigiri out of the blue. Though the day was not of Rakshya Bandhan festival, yet many in the capital city were having rakhis tied on their wrists. Along with it a note that read, “Your life is precious. You are not serious about your life. Wear helmet,” was handed over to each violator. It sounds strange! But BCTP staff, college girls and cine actresses found it appropriate to impart awareness among two-wheeler riders who were not wearing helmets. Butwhy rakhi in place of fine for non-helmeters? Prize for an offender? Is it really Gandhigiri? When asked, Nirmal Chandra Satpathy, DCP of BCTP said, "If the media is branding it as Gandhigiri then I have nothing to say. But our strategy is different. We have planned to experiment social enforcement in place of the customary pattern of coercive enforcement. Because it is believed that social enforcement has a strong emotional appeal and better impact on citizens.'BCTP's Gandhigiri is not confined only to rakshya bandhan. There is also a rosy motivation for law obeyers. Police personnel and college girls presented red roses with a 'Thank You' note to those who passed busy traffic junctions wearing helmets. A campaigning police official said, "This rakhi and rose campaign has ushered a positive impact. On the first day, we had distributed around 4,000 roses and 1,000 rakhis at the five most busy traffic points in the city. But on the second day, rose distribution figure moved up to 6,000 and rakshya bandhan came down to only 600 odd." This type of experiment is the first of its kind in the country, claims BCTP. "In Bhubaneswar there are three lakh-plus two wheelers running. And as per our survey 80 per cent of riders wear helmets. The intention behind this campaign is to make helmet wearing 100 per cent," explained Satpathy, when asked about the objective of this campaign.According to Forum for Prevention of Road Accidents, in Orissa every day eight lives are snuffed out and around 30 persons suffer injury in road accidents. And last year, 8,190 road accidents have been reported and 3,034 persons lost their lives. These facts and figures show the ugly face of road accidents. In this backdrop, BCTP’s rakhi-rose campaign is definitely a path-breaking step. But its success depends upon sustainability of the campaign. Lets see how far khakiwala’s will be able to perform Gandhigiri in the long term.