Youths, celebrities join traffic volunteer mobilization campaign

KATHMANDU, Sept 23: Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD), Ram Shah Path, on Sunday launched a Traffic Volunteer Mobilization Campaign in Kathmandu to educate people about traffic rules. The 15-day campaign has been launched as a part of the Youth Mobilization Year 2019 for the management of overall traffic condition in the Kathmandu Valley. 

“The campaign aims to involve mainly youths and students in traffic awareness activities and to educate people about the importance of following traffic rules through this active age group of people,” said Superintendent of Police Rabi Kumar Paudel, who is also the spokesperson at the MTPD, Ram Shah Path. 

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To inculcate the feeling that “we all are traffic police without uniform” in every citizen is also another major objective of this campaign, said SP Paudel. 

The 15-day campaign is expected to be participated by 500 volunteers including students from 23 different schools and colleges, two youth clubs, 16 transportation companies and 10 celebrities and 12 airhostesses. 

“On the first day itself, we were joined by many volunteers along with celebrities like Jeetu Nepal, Manoj Gajurel, Ram Krishna Dhakal and Kulendra Bishwokarma,” SP Paudel told Republica. “We initiated this campaign right now as some of the major festivals like Dashain, Tihar and Chhath are just around the corner and the city is more likely to witness huge traffic snarls during this time.” 

The volunteers will be educating people to cross roads through zebra crossings, explaining people about pick-and-drop system, encouraging them to use footpaths and overhead bridges and to form a line while getting into a vehicle or getting off a vehicle and will also be helping people in maintaining lane discipline. 

“Being aware about traffic rules and regulations is essential for every citizen. We often tend to avoid traffic rules when we do not see traffic police officers around. However, it is very important to realize that following traffic rules and regulations even when traffic police personnel are not around is crucial step for one's safety,” said comedian Jeetu Nepal.