Inclusive Road Safety

In January 2016, in 3688 road accidents, 420 people died! This is an all time record of deaths in one month in Kerala. 

Do you think it is war and terrorism that takes the most of human lives? Wrong! It is road accidents! Shocked to see this figure, I wish to reproduce below the Project I recently presented before the King's College London, for which I received the Chevening Fellowship.

INCLUSIVE ROAD SAFETY 

‘Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety’- Shakespeare

Every year globally, nearly 1.35 million people- a majority of them pedestrians and two-wheeler riders- die and around 50 million people suffer injuries which account for an important cause of disability, in road traffic accidents. [1]‘Road accidents are the major cause of death in children below the age of 14 and the top cause of death in people between the age of 15’-29 as reported by the World Report on Child Injury Prevention published by UNICEF in 2011 and the UN Global status report on road safety in 2015.  [2]It isestimated that over 260,000 children die and around 400,000 children get orphaned inroad accidents every year. Even in the USA and European Union countries, where road traffic deaths are not as alarming as in other countries, one out of five child deaths is caused by road accidents. It is again pertinent to note that [3]’90% of accidents occur in South East Asian Countries, Africa and Eastern Mediterranean regions which have less than two-thirds of the world’s vehicle population’. The rapid increase in vehicle growth without improving the road infrastructure or planning for better transportation is one of the reasons for increasing trend in road accident deaths, but the main reason is still attributed to the state’s lack of a sustainable and inclusive road safety policy. Economically, road accidents and deaths are calculated to affect 3% of the global GNP totalling over 500 million dollars according to [4]the annual report of USA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Road Safety and Annual Report of IRTAD of OECD and Gov. of UK Dept. for Transport.

The UNRSC (United Nations Road Safety Collaboration) set up in 2004 under the World Health Organisation has been involving international organisations, governments, public and private sector entities as well as NGOs in various road safety mechanisms over the years since its existence but the situation has hardly changed even after five years of review of the global scenario of road traffic accidents. In this light, the resolution 64/2551 of the UN Secretary General in 2010 mandated the countries to observe ten years from 2011 to 2020 as the ‘UN Decade of Action’ for road safety, with the goal of stabilizing and reducing road fatalities throughout the world through increased activities to be conducted at regional, national and global levels. The UNRSC in its report in 2012 identified [5]‘the four pillars for evolving road safety strategies which later came to be known as the four Es of road safety- Engineering, Education, Enforcement and Emergency care’. The results of the last five years of this decade of action plan for road safety activities are far disappointing. And now it is time to add one more pillar to it, environment, since if these four pillars rest on the unstable ground, it may well collapse.

[6]‘The United Kingdom has one of the best records of road safety in the world’, according to the policy document on road safety published by the department for transport in the UK in its annual report of 2014. The total length of highways in England, Scotland and Wales is24,076 kilometres and over 85% of all road transport is concentrated on this road, as per the data available in this paper.The roads and bridges are planned, built, maintained and operated with the utmost safety standards in place and the Transport Research Laboratory monitors road engineering through the various road condition indicator codes, tools and surveys.Use of technology-oriented enforcement throughcameras, interceptors and radar surveillance, traffic calming and control systems, pedestrian assistance and crossing systems, separate and dedicated lanes for different types of vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians, structured digital signage and direction boards, mandatory tracking and security system in vehicles (Tachometer, GPS etc.), standardised driving licence testing system,safety standards for vehicles and its passengers, yearly checking of vehicles (MOT), dedicated parking places and the way the enforcement as well as awareness campaigns such as [7]‘Think!’ are outsourced are worth emulating in countries like India where accidents are very high.The public transport system in the UK, especially the cities is one of the best in the world which has reduced the use of private vehicles. The fairly well laid out guidelines and assessments of safety audit system by the [8]‘Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation’, (CIHT) a society for planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of road transport in the UK is often referred as a reference book for road safety management in other countries. [9]UK is also one of the safest EU countries for road users with road mortality lower than 40 deaths per million inhabitants.

[10]Great Britain also has the best and fastest emergency and trauma-care with most of the hospitals having A&E departments functioning 24/7.The 999 ambulances reach the crash scene within 5 to 10 minutes of receiving intimation. It was however reported in the [11]‘Accident and Emergency Statistics- briefing paper no. 6964 of 17^th July 2015’ that there was 9% increase of attendees in A&E in 2014/15 compared to 2009/10 and on a daily basisemergency admissions were 11,044 compared to 9,397, five years back. It was also found that a majority of attendees at A&E are children below the age of 14.  Till the end of December 2014, there were 35.6 million vehicles registered in the UK, which was 9% higher compared to 2013 according to the Vehicle Licensing Statistics, 2014, Government of UK Department for Transport. [12]The annual report of road casualties in Great Britain on 2014 shows that in 194,477 road accidents, 1775 people of which three-quarters were pedestrians, died and 22,807 were seriously injured in 2014 which was 5.4% higher than in 2013. The traffic accidents and fatalities which have beenreducing up to 2013 since 1997showed an increase of 5 and 4% respectively in 2014, despite all this.

In Indiathere are no uniform road safety policies or standard procedures for traffic control. Imported and costly vehicles co-exist with stray animals, pedestrians, bullock carts and non-motorised transport on the roads where footpaths, parking areas, places of worshipand market places merge with roads. Consequently, traffic is in total chaos. [13]In 2004, the total number of registered automobiles was around 72 million but it grew to 189 million in 2014, more than double in ten years as revealed in the data files of the Central Transport Department.This is almost five times higher than the total vehicle population in the UK. The National and State highways in India is the second largest in the world with 3.3 million km which is 200 times more than in the UK. But the roads and traffic management systems have not changed much in these ten years leading to erratic driving patterns and heavy congestions on the roads. On an average, nearly 450,000 serious road accidents occur a year in India claiming around 170,000 lives and injuring over 480,000 people. It is estimated that daily around 16 children lose their lives on the roads.  [14]In 2014, according to official statistics of the National Highway Authority of India,there were 141,526 deaths due to road accidents compared to 137,423 in 2013, which showed an increase of 2.9%.

A comparative figure of Road Accidents and deaths from 2012 to 2014 in the 10 states in India where the highest number of accidents were reported for the last three years since 2012 is given below.

STATES	NUMBER OF ROAD ACCIDENTS			NUMBER OF FATALITIES
	2012	2013	2014	2012	2013	2014
Tamil Nadu	67757	66220	67232	15638	15645	15776
Maharashtra	45247	63019	61627	13936	13999	13903
Karnataka	44448	46250	43649	9448	10046	10444
Andhra Pradesh	44165	45524	45482	14966	14946	15165
Uttar Pradesh	24478	30615	31034	15109	16004	16287
Rajasthan	22969	23592	24628	9526	9724	10289
Kerala	36174	35215	34282	4286	4258	4049
West Bengal	15608	12414	12865	6222	6504	5927
Chhattisgarh	13511	13657	13831	3167	3477	4022
Delhi	6937	7566	8623	1866	1870	1871

Source-[15] Report on accidents and suicides dated 8.07.2015 of National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home affairs

         

          Kerala is the only state where there was a decrease in the number of accident cases reported as well as deaths due to road crashes from 2012 to 2013 and 2014. Since 2007, road accidents and fatalities were increasing by 3 to 5% every year and the number of vehicles has increased by over 10%.[16]Though small in area and size, the total number of registered vehicles in this state, as on March 2015 was 9,648,320 which are more than double the number of households in the state. Around 66% of the registered vehicles are two-wheelers and three-wheelers. Considering the total length of all the roads in the state, there are 60 vehicles plying in every kilometre. Still in 2014 compared to 2013, 209 less number of fatalities and 933 less number of accidents have occurred although as per the sheer number of accidents reported, Kerala can be ranked in the 5^th position among the states having the highest number of traffic accidents a year.  West Bengal and Maharashtra show fluctuating trends but in all other states road accidents and fatalities increase as years go by. Kerala is the third mostdensely populated state in the country with 33 million inhabitants and 850 people per square kilometre. Being a highly literate and litigant State, all road accidents, however minor, gets reported to the police and FIRs (First Information Report) are generated, the documents of which are requiredfor claiming insurance and damages from the Motor Vehicles Claims Tribunal.

          Kerala is the only state in India having a Road Safety Authority in existence since 2007. [17]The KRSA Act 2007, passed by the Government in 2008 is vested with powers toformulate policies and schemes, to allot funds to the various stake-holding departments to promote road safety and advise the government on various road safety measures.The KRSA has also powers to control and direct departments such as Health, Education, Police, Transport, Public Works, Roads and Bridges and National Highways in their road safety activities. The Minister Transport is chairman of KRSA and Minister Public Works is vice- Chairman. The Commissioner, Transport is the CEO and senior officers of the above departments are members. All these departments have road safety cells and KRSA holds meeting every month to review accidents and suggest improvements to be carried out by each department to prevent further accidents.  [18]A study was conducted by this authority through the road safety research organisation, NATPAC (National transportation, planning & research centre) to formulate a road safety action plan in 2012. This report stressed the need for strengthening enforcement and creating awareness among the public against rash and negligent driving which was the major cause of road accidents and deaths. The report further recommended that while engineering, enforcement and emergency care are duties primarily vested with government agencies, education was one area where the cooperation from the otherwise silent public could be involved in the department’s efforts to save the lives of people, especially children on the roads. Hence, the KRSA and Transport Department decided to make a paradigm shift in its policies and include the public in strengthening road safety in the state.

PROJECT THIRD EYE

          [19]Article 51 (A) of the Constitution of India outlines the fundamental duties of Indian citizens, one of them being ‘the duty to abjure violence and safeguard public property’. [20]The Indian Penal Code and the [21]Criminal Procedure Code also make it mandatory for every citizen to ‘report a crime before the lawful authority for taking further action according to law’ and failure to do so may be construed as abetting the crime. [22]The Central and the State Motor Vehicle Act and rules likewise exhort the public to report cases of violations of traffic rules, act as ‘good Samaritans’ to provide assistance to victims and intimate the hospital and authorities about road accidents.

          ‘Project third eye’ was envisaged to involve the silent masses to take proactive steps in helping reduce road accidents and report offences which they see to the concerned authority. In this state, enforcement was weak due to acute shortage of officers and vehicles as well as finances and most of the commuters violated rather than obeyed the rules. Helmetless riding, non-wearing of the seatbelt, talking on cell phones while driving, drunken driving and driving under the influence of narcotic substances, traffic signal lights violations, not stopping before zebra lines, left side overtaking, road rages as well as parking on non-parking areas were rampant and went undetected.

          Project Third Eye proposed a bottom up approach for a policy implementation on road safety and to use the social media and digital networking technology in promoting safe driving habits and to enforce the rules through participative policing methods. The transport department invited the public to be ‘the third eye’ (first eye being Law and the second eye, the Government/enforcement) and provide information, feedback and comments on road safety activities. The department gave wide media/press publicity to this project exhorting the public to click pictures of traffic violations on their phones or other devices and send them on ‘WhatsApp’ or Facebook page/website to the Motor Vehicle Department. A text message and email wouldbe sent to the owner of the vehicle intimating them of the rule violation and directing them to remit the required fines within a fortnight. The project proposed to reward the informers by giving them free trauma care training, priority treatment at all offices of transport and motor vehicle department and also proposed to honour such people who have actively cooperated in reducing traffic offences or helped victims of road accidents in public functions in order to encourage others to do the same.  

          Operation Third Eye was launched on trial basis in mid-2013. [23]On an average, 3500 pictures and videos were received from the public per day from its inception till the year-end. The revenue to the government as fines collected as compounding fee of traffic offences showed an increase of 38% in 2013. By March 2014, the number of pictures received per day from the public rose to more than 5000 per day and the department had to hire three data entry operators to clear the pending work of sending electronic tickets/memos for traffic violations. Complaints against driving schools, unfair practices or corruption in driving licence tests or vehicle tests and complaints against enforcers also started to pour in.  On each of these, the department sent replies acknowledging receipt of the pictures/suggestions and gave them a reference number in case they needed to follow up the matter. A database of informers kept tag of people who frequently co-operated with the department for rewarding them.

          By January 2015, it was clear from the data that in 2014, there was a noted decrease in the number of road accidents and fatalities. The fines and compounding fees collected in 2014 was Rs 1.2 billion which was more than double the amount collected in 2013 and this was possible only due to the active involvement of the public.

INCLUSIVITY- THE WAY FORWARD TO ROAD SAFETY?       

          There are many actors in the road safety sector. Government officers at the Centre and States, manufacturers and engineers of automobiles, vehicle dealers, oil companies, public works department, national highwaysdepartment and its officers, public sector undertakings such as roads and bridges development corporation, construction corporation, urban planning organisations, officials at the city corporations, municipalities and villages, town planners, police and enforcement officers, transport and traffic management officers, public transport systems and its employees, drivers and passengers, testing centres, driving schools, licensing centres, check posts and toll booths, pollution testing centres, meteorology department, NGOs, research and development teams, officers of various departments such as health and education and finally cyclists and pedestrians are some of them. To achieve the desired outcome, all have their specific roles to play. Most of the time, while government departments, officers and vehicle manufacturers decide and implement major policies, the road users and the silent masses are forced to abide by them. Their points of view are often unheard. The transport system and the roads belong to the taxpayers and the lead Ministry or agency should include them while taking major decisions in improving road safety; it is ultimately for them that safety policies should exist.

          [24]The Ministry of Road Transport and highways of India came out with a new draft bill titled the Road Transport and Safety Bill in 2014 with the aim to reduce road accidents and fatalities by 50% in 2020. This bill proposed to unify all rules and procedures, centrally monitor all vehicles and driving licences and codify all data relating to transport and vehicles to a central system and control. It further proposed to drastically enhance fines of traffic rule violations and include penalty points community service up to 15 days as punishments. The original bill went through four revisions and the new version of the bill of 2015 envisages a framework for safety and ‘seamless development of a secure, efficient, cost-effective and inclusive transport system’ in the country. The new bill proposes establishing authorities for control and coordination of transport and road safety, but is still silent about inclusive transport or safety. So far, the bill has not even been introduced in Parliament despite its many revisions and meetings of the Central Minister with State Ministers. It is expected that once it becomes an Act, concrete steps for including all the main actors in road safety goals and policies will be laid out, but immediate actionon the following points need to be taken by the authorities concerned for reducing road accidents.

1.   Government and other agencies should realise that transport means not only the roads and the motorised sector but also the non-motorised sector such as cycles, hand or animal pulled vehicles and pedestrians- women, children, disabled and the poor. While devising policies, their special needs and inputsshould be studied and changes should be made with a view to providing safe and secure facilities.

2.   Government spendsheavilyfor conferences, educational programmes and meetings for road safety but fail toharness public ideas to develop sustainable goals (SDGs) in road safety. Funds should be made available for creating and disseminating awareness to the people on traffic and public transport system or outsource it effectively. Making available free and user-friendly computer/mobile applications on traffic, transport and road safety, having transparency in all policy decisions, inviting public participation before making substantial changes and providing a common platform for formulating a future path to road safety are some ways by which money can be fruitfully spent by the government.

3.   It is human nature to resist policy decisions taken unilaterally. If the civil society thinks that road safety is a matter of concern only with the government, they will continue to break rulesaccording to their convenience while no one is watching. Public resentment to authoritarian road safety measures is evident when they are more willing to pay the penalty rather than obey the rules. Hence, an environment of connecting with the publicand ensuring respect for law will have to be created.

4.   Technology, presently used for strict enforcement should be extended to allowease of understanding and following of procedures for the public. Rules and regulations as well as penalty for violating them should be continuously brought before public attention and thrust should be given to prevent violations than to penalise them. Surveys, feedback and inputs on improvements needed in technology to enhanceroad safetyand how best to prevent traffic offences and road ragescould be called for. Digitizingdata of all the roads, vehicles, users of roads, the behaviour of drivers and other stakeholders at the national level for analytical purposes should be implemented forease in assessment of various issues and for future improvementin road safety.

5.   Social media is a good space for inclusive road safety activities. The Facebook page of Kerala Motor Vehicles Department has 143,000 friends as of now and gets around 55,000 posts a week from the public. This department has registered online charitable organisations called TRUST (TRaUma care System of Travancore) and TRACK (TRAuma care, Kerala) which formally train the public on first aid and trauma care on every Saturday at reputedhospitals. Over 46,000 persons are so far trained on trauma care. The trained persons are given ID cards so that they can effectively intervene if an accident occurs in their locality. SMILE (Seamless Medical Intervention In Life-saving and Emergency care) is another organisation started by the police in co-operation with the Medical College Hospitals in Kerala for imparting trauma-care training to traffic police officers.Another initiative by the transport department on inclusivity in road safety was the hackathon organised for the public in August 2014. The World Bank, in association with AXA, G-tech and Angel hack, USA sponsored for hosting Asia’s first ever ‘road safety hackathon’ in Kerala in which 308 students and technocrats participated. This event generated novel ideas on road safety technology.

          If we could save the lives of 237 people in 18 months through a small experiment in one tiny state, we can save thousands of lives in the country if similar inclusive policies are taken up by the department/Government. It is estimated by the UN that ‘by 2030, road accidents will become a leading cause of death in the world unless drastic action is taken to change the trend’. At present, the major cause of death in humans is old age and sickness, but road accidents will become the number one cause in 15 years unless we do something substantial in this field.  The future path to road safety is clear- it is the path of inclusive road safety.

"Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success”- Henry Ford

           

   

The Chevening Experience Part 2

The Chevening Experience- Part 2

Scottish Highlads

I studied English Language and Literature and still love the plays of Shakespeare. My favorite poets are the romantic poet trio- Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley. Even from those days, my greatest wish was to go to England and walk through the places where these great writers have lived and created treasure-trove in words. I mentioned in my earlier post that I attended the compulsory mid-career training program in 2012, but it was just for a week. With classes in the London Business School and Metropolitan Police of London (Erstwhile Scotland Yard), I hardly got time to roam around the place that time. So, the Chevening Fellowship was a dream come true for me with three full months to go around all the places I wanted to see and experience the varied culture and beauty of the great historic place.

During the first few days, I walked around the area and experimented on the different routes to get to Kings College from our place of residence. It was great fun. We went in groups. The first day's walk was long since we took the south side Thames bridge. From the second day onward we found a path that takes just 25 minutes to reach the campus.  

The classes started with the National Health Scheme of UK. I asked one of the doctor who came to take one class why antibiotics are not available in the pharmacies in London and he replied that use of antibiotics is banned in the country! I asked "then how was I supposed to cure my bad cold and cough?" He replied "Oh, it will vanish in a week. It will go away even if you take or don't take antibiotics" He was very positive about it, so I trusted him and took some cold medicines which I had carried with me. Within a week, my cold vanished as the London Doctor promised and it never came back as long as I stayed there though I walked around in the rains, in extreme coldness with no proper woolens and also under the direct beams of the sun. 

The classes were not one person talking all the time, they were lively and interesting with slide shows, movies and Q&A sessions. We were taken for field visits too every week. The College gave us an Oyster card using which we could take trips in the trains, buses and even boats! The Chevening Secretariat had sent us a cash card with 3000 pounds in it which we merrily used for purchases and personal trips. I had carried some money with me and my brother in London gave me some when he dropped me from the Airport to my room.

Flower clock

One of the many recliners on the roads in Geneva

To my surprise I found out that almost every other day there were wine and official dinner in the evenings too. Some of the days, they provided us lunch in the class room, which I tremendously enjoyed.  During the first weekend itself I went with Sapna to Bournville and thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Cadbury World. Then I went to my cousin Mini's house in Birmingham and stayed there for two days. Mini and Chandramohan chettan took us to Stratford upon Avon, Cotswold and the first Iron Bridge- an architectural marvel! We also went to a philharmonic orchestra with over 100 musicians playing over 30 types of musical instruments- a simply amazing experience.

After two weeks of classes and field visits including visit to the House of Commons and House of Lords in London, we went to Scotland. The inputs about Referendum, Devolution of powers and laws on LBGT at Edinburgh University were enjoyable. I got a blue sweater from the University Store which I used lavishly during my stay there. I took a long walk in the university campus with another room mate of mine, Neha Pahuja and missed a bit of afternoon session since we got lost on our way back! One day we went to the Scottish parliament and heard the First Minister Ms Nicola Sturgeon, a very smart lady answer the questions from the opposition!Another great experience!

That weekend we proceeded as a group to Scottish High lands and a place called Isle of Skies! I put my foot down when the leader of the team refused to take us to Loch Ness, which is fabled for the presence of sea monster Nessie and insisted we should go there. Being a senior person and a police officer, the others buckled and we went there too. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire trip.

Back in London, another week of classes on finance started. We learned all about bit-coins and the latest financial innovations and use of technology in the world of money. A visit to the Metal Exchange in London was interesting and from the gallery we saw the heated trading of metals and the flurry of activities where over 50 people crowded around a table. All around the room were telephone exchanges manned by another set of people shouting the deals offered. During that week, there were heavy rains. I had carried an umbrella from home, it was a light weight poppy umbrella which could be folded three times to make it pocket size. It was a gift from Baby Uncle, owner of Poppy umbrellas and had a lovely purple colour. On my way back from class, I put it open at the reception of Moonraker Point and went to have a cup of coffee thinking I will take it back to the room after drinking the coffee. But when I came back to the reception, this umbrella was gone. I inquired at the reception and the girl there said "Oh, someone must have taken it. it is still raining. They will give it back, don't worry. Please check up at the reception tomorrow." I kept checking a few times, but I never got it back. It was so sad that someone should take another's umbrella even in London! 

Next week was our much awaited trip to Geneva. While packing for the trip and counting the Euros I carried with me, I found a shortage of 50 Euro note. Panicking, I searched the entire room and found it gone from my locked suitcase. Then I counted my pounds and found 400 pounds too missing! I got a huge shock! My money was stolen! 

The tourist tram

Throughout that night I counted and recounted the money against the expenses I have spent in London and got convinced that 400 pounds and 50 Euros were stolen from my room from someone. First I called the help line number of Moonraker Point, my accommodation. No response. Then I mailed to them. I also complained to the Chevening Secretariat and to Police in the early morning next day. From the police station I got a call within an hour to confirm whether I sent the complaint. They were very efficient and cordial. I also got a call from a victim relief person consoling me that I should not be upset and everything will be fine. That evening, the police visited my room and took my statement and photographs of the room. They told me that it will be difficult to recover stolen cash and they will enquire into the matter. I got several calls from them when I was in Geneva and later in Paris. Pacified by the Police, I proceeded to Geneva and had a great week there. I went two days ahead of the Monday when we were officially booked in Ibis hotel. I got a room at Nash hotel near the airport for 2 nights for which I spent my own money. 

I opted to stay alone and explore since Geneva for two days since my experience last time of moving along with the crowd restricted my freedom. So, I hopped into a bus, talking half German, half English to the French speaking people there. Ultimately I managed to reach the City Center where I alighted and walked through the shopping malls and streets for hours. I also saw the English Garden where there is a flower clock which keeps up the perfect time!

Late in the evening, I got into a tram, yes a tram, and got back to the hotel after losing my way a couple of times. It was an adventurous solo trip. I also spent money for unwanted beauty products. But the walk at the city center and by the side of Le Mirador lake, locally called Lac Leman and the sight of the huge water jet fountain were enthralling. The next day I visited the house of a Malayali family there who took control of the rest of my days in Geneva. Manoj, Sindhu and their two cute kids went out of the way to take care of me!

From Monday onward, I shifted to Hotel Ibis where official stay was arranged for the fourteen of us and we went for classes, discussions and field visits to WTO, UNHRD and WHO. A friend came all the way from Zurich to take me for dinner one of these days! Thanks to Joy and Kunjamma for another enjoyable evening! I also had dinner with Appu and Aditi, both working in UN and a long beautiful walk through the old city another evening. 

The beautiful places I visited from Geneva are Mont Blanc andChamonix, both in French Alps. I also visited a village called Annecy. With friends I roamed around again through all these streets and took a boat ride right up to the fountain. On that weekend, some of us proceeded to Paris by train so that we could stay two extra nights there in our personal capacity. The trip by Euro rail was enchanting and we reached Paris in the late evening.

 

Please see my next blog for more Chevening Experiences.

 

My Facebook post

About my Facebook post

My Facebook is accessible only to my friends. I have never made it public. When many friends/relatives asked me about a press report which appeared in the media on 27th December 2015 that Vigilance Court Thrissur had ordered a case to be registered against me, I wrote a post about it on my private facebook page so that I need not repeat the story to each and everyone.
How can telling my friends my woes create so much controversy and news value?

I am the target of continued harassment from one particular person (my enemy No.1) of the same rank ever since I entered the service. Recently he was devising new ways to torture me, the motive for which is still unclear. May be he was jealous that I got the prestigious Chevening Award in UK? When I took study leave to undertake UK Government's Chevening Fellowship for 3 months from September to December 2015, he manipulated to get into the post I vacated. He was thrown out of another department due to some controversy and was in need of face-saving. He has been continuously searching for ways to tarnish my three decades of unblemished career record through devious means, but in Transport Department he could not find any mistakes I did. Fearing that I may get back as Transport Commissioner on my  return from UK, he created a false story that got aired in Asianet channel for a full day which said that I misused the official vehicle and telephone of TC causing a loss of Rs 24,000. Once Asianet knew that the story was false, they removed that news immediately from the channel, but for a few hours my enemy succeeded in spreading false rumour that I, who at that time was in London, misused his office facilities. On my return, he refused to budge from the post of TC, so after 3 weeks of waiting for posting, I got posted in State Crime Records Bureau as ADGP on 23.12.2015. I am happy and relaxed now. Seeing that I am happy, he got upset and started to look for other ways to harass me.He does that quite often.

There were umpteen instances in the past of his harassment. Three years back when he was placed under suspension for holding two passports and taking trips abroad without sanction from competent authority, he lashed out against me publicly saying that Sreelekha also took trips abroad and hence she too also be suspended! He fabricated a GO showing that I caused Rs 84,000 to Government and gave it to the media who happily showed in the channels it for a day.  I searched for this GO and could not find it either in any office or at Secretariat. Then I found that he fabricated this GO just to damage my reputation.  I complained against him then and even obtained Government sanction to file a damages suit against him.  But then he came to me and apologised, touching my feet and crying. He has that habit of publicly harassing me and then apologising privately.  He vouched time and again that he was Satan and I was an Angel and he would never torment me again! I forgave him then too, since I believe that having bad feelings for others is not good for me.

But he gets some mean pleasure by torturing me. So, in December 2015  he found an opportunity to influence a bus owner to give a false complaint against me at the Thrissur Vigilance Court on 30.12.2015 that an Educational Institution has bought some buses which were used as stage carriages to evade tax and a petition given to Transport Minister in 2013 was scuttled by me since I accepted bribe from the College and the earlier bus owner. I was accused number 3 in the petition. JRTO Chalakkudy was accused 4. Accused one was previous bus owner Joy Antony and Accused 2 was Principal of College, Sajeev Vattoli. Complainant's name was P. P. Johnson. The Vigilance Court was made to believe that there was a Special Branch Report which prove the allegations, so the court called for it the next day- ie 31.12.2015. There was no SB report on that date. But 15 days later, on 15.01.2016, DySP Special Branch Thrissur gives a vague report to ADG Intelligence that in Thrissur District, Educational Institutions evade vehicle taxes which require enquiry by Vigilance Department. On 22nd January, he gave another vague report to the court that he gave a report to ADG Intelligence for vigilance enquiry. The court promptly ordered a case to be registered against all the accused by Vigilance!

I don't know this complainant Johnson. He never came with any complaint to me. When he complained first in February 2013, Sri. Rishiraj Singh was the TC. The petition was forwarded by Minister's office and Vigilance in June 2013 and the then TC enquired about it through his JRTO Chalakkudy. Finding the allegations unsubstantiated, he informed this to complainant Johnson in July 2013 and even sent report to Minister Transport. One year later, in June 2014, I took charge as TC. I handed over charge of TC in September 2015 to the Transport Secretary Sri Gopala Menon. I was in Transport Department for only 14 months.
I was naturally puzzled why a person should target me with this false complaint. As suspected, I found out that the present TC was behind this. I was naturally distressed. During one of the sleepless nights post this incident, I wrote a post about this on my facebook page. It got leaked to Manorama in a few hours!

Of course the post carried his name, which everyone knows by now. My post, meant only for my friends & relatives got leaked to the media by one of my friends who is unfortunately friend of you-know-who or he might have wriggled into my FB in a false name! So from 30th January onward, Manorama channel & Kairali channel started celebrating the news. The newspapers followed suit. Now the news is in the National Media. I did not talk to anybody in the press, because I had filed an appeal at the High Court against the orders of the Vigilance Court & I am awaiting orders from the High Court. I am positive of a favourable outcome, but the damage he intended had been already done.
My FB post is not public. I never intended it to be public. Yet it became a big news and one Enemy No.1 threatened to file damages case against me.
To answer one query from some stranger as to why it took 29 years for me respond and whether I intend to join politics now that elections are round the corner- first, I have responded only when I was driven to the corner. And at a heavy cost too. Because he is venomous and spits untruths.And I don't have the mental strength to be a politician. So, sorry. I will retire as DGP and then engage my time fruitfully in writing.
My innocence will be proven soon. I wish to thank all my well wishers- known and unknown who supported and prayed for me.

PS- The High Court quashed the orders of Vigilance Court, fully vindicating me. Further, in the orders of the Hon'ble High Court, it was mentioned that such vexatious petitioners should be legally dealt with. So I filed a damages suit against this Johnson.

Enemy is least amused, so his twisted brain has planned another attack. I have written about it in "Mr- Creeps." 

Now you decide. Is he crazy or does he have some mental problem? Is he fit to occupy this post which he holds now? 

The Chevening Experience

The Chevening Experience- Part 1

It was one of the great days in office. A colleague walked in with a request.

"I want a reference from you for applying for the Chevening Fellowship," he said.

"What is Chevening Fellowship?" I was puzzled. I haven't heard of it.

"Oh, it is a UK Government's award for Indians in London. My friend attended it two yeas back. If you search for it in internet, you will know the details. This particular one I am applying for is Chevening-Gurukul Fellowship." He answered.

I promptly google searched these words and found out that every year British Government calls for applications from Indians to attend a 12 week fellowship course in Europe, which is fully funded by the Government of UK. I found that any one can apply and there is no upper age limit! 

"Oh, this means I too can apply!" I exclaimed. "Yes, madam," my colleague answered.

The last date of application was just a week away and  I had to fill in plenty of details. It had a lot of columns and I had to fill up the entire career track records as well as my skills and achievements. But I applied nevertheless. I was a bit careless and made some mistakes since I was multitasking and in the midst of several other deadlines. Still, I was hopeful of getting selected although thousands apply every year only 12 to 15 persons get selected. Who else is more suited than me, was what I kept on thinking. 

I found out that my IPS batch-mate and roommate had attended this fellowship last year, but she never told me! Still I called her to find out how good this fellowship was.

"Oh... you don't study anything more than you already know, but the experience of spending three months in UK was great for me."

Days and weeks passed by without any information from the Chevening Secretariat. Interview for the selected candidates were supposed to be held by May. May came and went, still no news. I thought I did not get selected. 

Then, in the first week of June I received a call.

"This is from the British High Commission, New Delhi. I just want to check up whether you are coming for the interview scheduled on 7th. I did not get any reply from you, hence this call."

"I did not get any communication!" I complained. 

"We sent several mails to you, there is no response. Please check your spam mailbox too since some of our bulk mails to there. But we have sent mails to the email address you provided in the application." I was informed. 

7th was just two days away. How to go to New Delhi from Kerala at such a short notice? But I didn't want to miss the interview. "I'll be there by 12 noon on 7th." I confirmed.

On checking up my application again, I found I made a mistake in typing my email address. One letter was short! I sent mail to Chevening Secretariat apologizing the mistake and gave my correct email address. The next day, I got 16 mails with an apology for sending them to the wrong email address!

I was lucky. While I was racking my brains about going to Delhi and the expenses I had to incur for the trip, a message came from the Central Ministry that there is a meeting on 7th in New Delhi about accident statistics and an officer from Kerala should be deputed! 

I was fated to get this fellowship!

The trip to Delhi, meeting at MORTH and Interview at British Consulate went like clockwork. More than asking me any questions, the 3 member Interview Board was telling me about the fellowship, what all I should prepare for the travel and how the weather will be etc!I was sure by then that I got selected for the fellowship. I owe thanks to the two dignitaries who gave glowing references about me. Mr. P. K. H. Tharakan who was DGP Kerala and Chief of R&AW under whom I have worked for a few years and Dr. Sheena Shukkoor, Pro- Vice Chancellor of MG University who is my friend since the last several years.
Being an award by the British Government, I had to proceed to London on leave. So, I applied for three month's Earned leave. I got permission from MHA, MEA and State Government. Visa and tickets were provided by the Foreign Commonwealth Office in London. By that time, a whats-app group was formed by the selected fellows, 15 of us and we were in contact with each other through the social media. I was the only one selected from Kerala and the first IPS officer to be given this award in the State. Of the 15, two were Tamilians settled in Delhi, one was from Maharashtra, one from AP  and the other 10 were from Delhi.
Early morning on 10th September 2015 I started from Trivandrum and reached Heathrow airport in London in the evening. My brother, who is a doctor in Southampton which is more than 2 hour drive from London came to pick me up. He dropped me at Moonraker Point an apartment for students near Waterloo Station. I had visited UK as part of my Mid-career training programme (MCTP-IV) in 2012 earlier. My family had joined me then for a few days after my course. But this time, it was for three months.
I loved my apartment. It was small with attached tiny bathroom. The room had a double bed, a wardrobe shelf, a long L shaped table and a chair. There was storage space under the bed and a full size mirror for dressing. Each apartment had four such en-suite rooms and a common kitchen. The kitchen was fully furnished with a table, four chairs and all utensils. The huge fridge was big enough to store all our food, there were burners, oven and microwave. All the cutlery were four in number and there were plenty of utensils. I was thinking of eating packed food while in London, but the sight of the full-fledged kitchen changed my mind.
My brother took me for shopping at Sainsbury and purchased all I immediately needed. After he left, I met the other person who was allotted room in the apartment, Anish Garg who was previously a Judge, but now legal adviser in Dupont. Then came Sapna Poti, who is a highly qualified lady with a PhD from IIT, Chennai and working at NSDC. The fourth person was Dr. Shuchin Bajaj who runs a number of hospitals around Delhi. He later shifted his apartment and in his place came Neha Pahuja, a climate researcher working in Teri. Soon I found that I was the oldest in the group. But I decided to enjoy to the maximum and learn a lot in the process.
Our programme schedule showed that though the main classes will be at King's College at Strand in London, which is one of the oldest colleges in UK, we will be taken to Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Geneva and Paris as part of the Fellowship studies!
King's College was housed in Somerset House on the banks of River Thames. It was a beautiful, imposing building with many wings and our class was in a room at Dickson-Poon School of Law building which overlooked the court yard and the clock tower of Somerset House. From Moonraker Point to Kings College, it was a 30 minutes walk and we had to cross Thames at Waterloo Bridge. Beautiful walk it was!
Since all the fellows had to do individual project work, a guide was allotted to me- Professor Benjamin Bowling. He was a sweet person who taught me a lot during those days.
And London was beautiful. The weather during that month was simply lovely. Sapna became a close friend in a few days and we went everywhere together. Unfortunately the first day itself, I got fever and a bad cold, probably due to weather change. A person sitting next to me in the flight was sneezing, may be I inhaled the germs in the air.
More later.

 With Sapna on the way to Kings College- South Bank.

 Inside our classroom

A Memorable Day

A memorable day

It was February 2005. I was Deputy Inspector General of Police in Central Range, based in Ernakulam.  The President of India was visiting Kerala and I was in charge of VVIP Security. A week prior to the visit, officers from Special Protection Group arrived and we planned a fault free programme for the VVIP visit.  

The President landed at the Naval Base Airport in the late evening and he was taken to Taj Malabar for stay. I had seen the presidential suite of Taj for the first time on that day. I also went inside the Taj luxury cruise for the first time during this visit. Next day, I escorted the President to the various places, sat through the function and filtered the guests to his room. After the busy schedules, he was taken to the suite in Taj. Quite a lot of people were crowded around his room waiting to see him even in the late night. Most of them had come with recommendation letters of some famous politicians and were demanding to see the President despite our best efforts to send them away. I tried along with other officers to quieten and send them away. Suddenly the door of the VVIP suite opened and the President’s head peeped out.

“What is all this ruckus?” he asked. “Why these people are here at 12 in the midnight? Please send them away.” He looked staight at me after saying this and closed the door. Suddenly all the people left quietly. The efforts of us, police officers to send them away had failed miserably while just a few words from the Prez were enough to instantly disperse them!

The next day's programme too went without any problem. At around 9 in the evening the that day, the President left for the Airport accompanied by the VVIP car-cade. I was in the 9^th vehicle behind the VIP bullet proof car. When I reached the Naval Base, the President was walking to the stairway to the flight. I ran to catch up with the other officers. Before climbing the stairs, he turned and saw me running and panting in the effort to get near so that I could salute him properly. He summoned me to him with a gesture.

Surprised, I went to the VVIP thinking, Oh God, what mistake did I commit now? The last night, when the President opened the door to quieten the noise, I presumed that his look towards me was accusatory. He was tired and the useless police couldn’t prevent the loud noises outside his room! Later that night I had thought his original intention was to fire the police. But seeing a lady officer he must have addressed the crowd instead! 

But as I went near, he walked towards me with a smile and put his hand around my shoulder.

“Thanks for taking such good care of me.” He said, smiling at me.

What? I stood paralyzed and in shock. Lots of flashes appeared in the darkness as the photographer’s cameras clicked. He turned, went up the stairs and the officers turned back to the exit pulling me with them. 

I had done umpteen number of VIP duties till then. None of the VIPs had even bothered to return the salute or acknowledge the presence of Police officers in khaki. So I was naturally shocked to hear a VVIP, that too, the President of India, thank me for my services!

Later that night lying awake, I regretted that I didn’t respond to him with something like- “Sir, please don't thank me, it was my duty, it was my pleasure.” Or anything in reply. He must have thought me quite dumb!

Flip the years to June 2014. The venue was again, Ernakulam, at the Cyber Security Conference organized by Kerala Police. I had the fortune to share the stage with the ex-President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. In the brief time I got to sit near him, I reminded him about the VVIP duty I did nine years back when he came to Kochi and my shock in hearing him thank me before leaving. I said- "Sir, I would like to apologize for my silence that time. I was too shocked to hear a VVIP thank me." 

He laughed and replied- “But it was not a special treatment for you. I like to thank everybody for their services.” Cameras clicked again.

Much to my happiness, I got a copy of that picture which I treasure.

Dr Kalam, a truly great man. My humble salute to him.

Manorama Lies

MANORAMA LIES

Did I say some time back that Malayala Manorama lies? Yes, I did. They have been getting some sick pleasure out of publishing lies against me since the last three years, ever since I was ADGP Vigilance.  Here is the proof that they never stop this.

http://english.manoramaonline.com/news/kerala/motor-vehicle-dept-oust-transport-commissioner-sreelekha.html

Some may say that ignoring lies would make everyone forget about them. I have tried that. But if I ignore, that makes those who lie do it again and again.

Regarding the above online news which is basically meant for Malayalees living abroad, there were a few comments including one from me. Immediately after I posted my comment, they removed the entire section of comments which had some comments such as “TC should be strong and suspend all those corrupt officers in the Transport Department.” But they didn’t remove the report based on assumptions from their online page. They will keep it there till the next lie they concoct against me.

Lies in the report.

1.     No executive officer was declared on dies-non for going on leave. Some officers went on an undeclared strike which is against Government Rules protesting arrest of an MVI by the Vigilance & anti-corruption Bureau. I issued proceedings as per rules declaring dies-non for all those who went on strike.

2.     No letter was given by any association to the Government till date. On checking up with the office bearers of the Motor Vehicle Gazetted Officer’s Association and the AMVI’s Association, they told me that they did not give any letter to the Government. I checked up with the office of the Minister and the Transport Secretary whether any letter was received by them, so far no letter was received by the Government or to Transport Secretary.

3.     When was day-to-day work of Transport Department disrupted? Barring 16^th , Saturday in June 2015 when around 70 officers went on strike, work continued and continues.

4.     No officer took casual leave or any sort of leave on 16^th June. They just absented themselves without any permission from Senior Officers in protest of the arrest of an MVI by Vigilance.

5.     July is gone. No one gheraoed me or did a sit-in as the news says this month at my office or anywhere.

6.     I did not insult any leader. The office bearers of the two associations barged into my office in civil dress on the 8^th evening when I was extremely busy with work. They had not intimated me about their wish to meet me, neither did they take appointment with my office. I asked them to leave and meet me in uniform after taking prior appointment. The same day I issued a circular that all officers should take prior appointment if they want to meet me and they should be in uniform.

7.     I did not issue any orders banning association activities. I did not instruct my staff not to allow office bearers of the associations to come to my office. In fact, they came several times after the 8^th but always in Uniform and after prior intimation.

8.     The post of Transport Commissioner is a Cadre post of ADGP, an IPS officer. The officers in this department are not dumb and ignorant to demand an IAS officer to be posted as TC. As far as I know, this is a concocted story of Manorama.

9.     Finally- if any officer has given a complaint or raised any allegations similar to the story, why did it appear ONLY on Manorama and not in any other newspaper???

So, the mud-slinging goes on. I must be so important a person to Manorama to specially target me! I am really amused!