I’ve only been in Mumbai for 20 months so my perspective is limited to living in Andheri & Powai.
I will not have the view of someone born or brought up here of course.
I know all the standard ’excuses/reasons’ for the sorry state of the Mumbai police:
very low wages
lack of equipment/training/infrastructure
huge red tape
political pressures/interference
high risk/low reward career
Most of these issues are true for other metros in the country also.
I rarely have had such problems from the equally maligned Delhi police.
I read that Mumbai’s entire force was under 50 K uniformed officers.
This is fine for populations upto 50 Lakh but needs to be doubled immediately for the exploding mass of people here.
I’ll get into sources for funding this expansion later.
I even give the cops the benefit of the doubt when they are offered bribes for traffic/non-violent offences (if the driver offers it first, it seems less of a crime for the officer!).
But the Rs. 100-200 you HAVE to pay for simply filing an FIR (First Information Report) at the local police station is absurd!
I don’t mind paying even 300 bucks as some kind of ’filing fees’ but then I want a receipt!
Its the height of corruption when a uniformed cop in a chowk asks you for a bribe to do his job!
Its so deeply ingrained that it’ll never be resolved.
For those of us with either company cars or comprehensive insurance, we know we have to get an FIR to get reimbursed for the accident repairs.
The really strange thing that I discovered is that according to 2 different chowkies in Powai & Vashi, we apparently can’t file an FIR if:
a) the vehicle was not moving (parked) AND
b) if no other entity (person/vehicle) was involved
My front glass was cracked when my City was parked and it was even covered by my insurance yet since I could not get an FIR filed (without being dishonest), it was not reimbursable.
The cop asked for a Rs 500 bribe since he was convinced that we were trying to commit some kind of insurance fraud!
I refused point blank and was even called later (I had given them my mobile #) with some ’tips’:
This was shocking enough but it was clear from the crack, that another car could not have hit the glass without scratching the body at all.
I can’t understand why the rules force otherwise honest people to lie to get what is rightfully theirs.
We were rearended by an Indigo while stopped at a red light in Thane on a highway during broad daylight!
So now I’m getting everything repaired under this FIR...
Still makes me feel uncomfortable though.
Luckily no one was hurt despite the hard impact since we were wearing seatbelts at the back also.
There were slight neck/whiplash injuries that wore off in 1-2 days.
The crumple zones in the Honda’s rear worked nicely!
I’m glad I spent the extra money on a safer car.
The temp/replacement car is an Accent which does not have a center armrest and so is more uncomfortable in the back. It gave almost 11 km/L compared to 10 km for the City automatic so not much difference. You can go about 305-315 km on a full tank compared to the 350-375 for the City AT but I digress.
At least I’ve maintained my record of never having offered a bribe to any law enforcement official EVER!
This is different from being forced to pay them when they demand it!!
I deal with that by handing the money to my driver and he pays them off - makes me sleep better I suppose (no direct interaction).
I even paid a Rs 500 fine for making a U turn (after waiting with my indicator on for traffic to clear) where it was not allowed (no posted signs/road markings/dividers).
Then I heard of Salman Khan being fined Rs 1, 000 for killing someone sleeping on the road at night after drinking.
So as far as the traffic laws in Mumbai are concerned:
2 illegal U turns = 1 dead person!
Could we have any more contempt/disdain for human lives?
Of course he later paid the family a couple of lakhs to drop the charges but that has nothing to do with the official fines.
Talk about seriously warped priorities...
Now I know that road/traffic conditions is not directly related to the police alone but as a tax-payer (part of the 3% nationwide!), its all part of the same commuting experience.
I don’t know what material they repair roads out of here but I really think it must be water soluble!
I have seen repaved roads dissolve within 1-2 weeks during this monsoon.
That has to be some kind of record!
The road from Powai to the highway (Vashi/Thane) has been repaved twice in the last 2 months and it already has potholes again.
The corrupt contractors must be forced to provide warranties (at least 3-6 months) or pay heavy fines when they repair/build roads in the commercial capital of the country.
The cops also stand around watching as people clog up busy intersections by driving on the wrong side of the broken & congested roads.
Banning auto-rickshaws from South Bombay has resulted in much smoother traffic flow. But the solution is to start handing out tickets/fines to all auto, taxi, bus, truck drivers who seem to get away with every traffic violation including pollution levels.
Unlike Delhi, Mumbai has not banned trucks/CVs during peak/rush hours which would greatly help in reducing the jams in the suburbs.
I feel they should be stopped from entering the city limits between 9am-9pm and not be allowed to move on city streets between 10am-8pm (Mon-Fri).
Fines should be imposed for any vehicle that is spewing visibly black smoke!
All this fine money could go to improving the compensation of the police resulting in a win-win situation for the public also.