PuneMate, Operation Achanak, Operation Achanak Pune, Pune Traffic, SPTM, Save Pune Traffic

1. “Mission 10vi Pass”
Operation Achanak
for Std # 1
17-27 Mar 2010
Ninad Patil
27th March 2010

2. Mission 10Vi Pass
• By now most of the SPTM members know what
“Mission 10vi Pass” (MDP) is all about. It’s a Pune
City wide campaign to significantly improve traffic
discipline & is a brain-child of SPTM. (Save Pune
Traffic Movement)
• As the traffic discipline in Pune city is
deteriorated to it’s highest low, time has come
for “back-to-school”.
• The campaign is a citizen’s campaign with a step-
by-step reinforcement of traffic rules, starting
from the simple to more difficult rules to
implement. (10 steps/ standards)

3. Opration Ishara & Achanak
• As a part of on-road awareness and “Visibility” of the
campaign, it was decided along with Police (DCP
Traffic Mr. Manoj Patil) that SPTM volunteers would
create awareness on select crossings in Pune, where
traffic infrastructure is in place (Signals & Zebras in
working condition).
• This part was named as “Opration Ishara”, (Alarm)
which is now being followed by “Operation
Achanak” (Sudden action on violators) carried out by
Police.
• Sections of busy Karve Road, Paud Road and near by
sections were selected for Oparation Achanak .
• These included,
– Nal Stop, Athavale chowk, CDSS, Karnatak highchool,
Hutatma Rajguru (Karishma) chowk, Mrityunjayeshwar
madir chowk, Karve Putala chowk and Ogale chowk on
Paud Road.

4. Operation Achanak
• The crossings and the time slots were then pre-
allocated to the team of Police Constable, Traffic
Wardens & SPTM Volunteers.
• The entire activity was pre-decided and supported
by Police under the guidance of API Mr.
Sureshkumar Raut & PI Amrut Shivtare of Kothrud
Police station.
• The idea was to hide near the crossing and catch
the “zebra” violators in ‘achanak’ way. While Police
were supposed to catch and fine the violators,
SPTM volunteers’ job was to counsel the violator,
in case the violator was referred to SPTM by
Police.

5. Operation Achanak
• Following SPTM volunteers were part of this
operation and SPTM is proud to have such
dedicated pool of volunteers. Thanks a ton to all of
them.
– Sameer Dhere Madhukar Bhatia
– Pramod Sanjagiri Vaijayanti Divekar
– Archana Joshi Bhalchandra Hebalkar
– Ninad Patil Sujoy Bose
– Kshitija Athavale Ketaki Karandikar
– Parag Kulkarni Mayur Bhave
– Animesh Prabhugaonkar Chandrashekhar Kolhatkar
– Abhijit Wadadekar Nitin Khamamkar
– Madhuri Shinde Rishikeh Ghare
– Harshad Abhyankar Rajendra Sidhaye
• The team of Police & SPTM caught over 600
Zebra Violators during these 10 days !!

6. Operation Achanak in full swing

7. Operation Achanak in full swing

8. Here are some ‘reactions’
from our own volunteers
• Parag Kulkarni: All in all, it was a good experience. We successfully
convinced people how they have broken basic rule. We caught 19
defaulters during 45 mins. Commuters respect volunteers, even when
Police are not around.
• Ninad Patil : One college going boy started arguing with Police too
heavily that how come they are letting others (especially car owners) go.
Being witness to the entire episode I intervened myself. Cooled the boy
down and told him about the entire mission and how it is humanly
impossible for police to catch everyone. I urged him to take all ill feelings
out and start thinking of making difference to his own future !! He then
said (to my surprise) that I would like to join you right now and help you
catch/ counsel the violators. He then helped wardens to identify and catch
violators. At the end of his 30 mins stint, he was a convert !!
• Vaijayanti Divekar: On the bright side, during many cycles of the signal,
ALL the people stopped before the stop line without any cop in sight. Yes,
I think we are making a difference.

9. Here are some ‘reactions’
from our own volunteers
• Sujoy Bose: I was @ nal stop this morning. I waited there for about 20
odd minutes for Police arrive. At around 1030 one constable arrived (After
The Alloted TIME to US). SO my score for the day was only 10 . But the
positive part is my total score is 68.
• Kshitija Athavale: This guy started arguing with the constable as soon
as he stopped him and took his license. The constable then asked him to
talk to me. I explained him the rule and asked him to pay the fine. He
started with "Madam, yeh rule to pata nahin tha. Aaap ko pahle logon ko
batana chahiye." And the next sentence was very funny. "Mumbai mein
aisa rule hai yeh to pata tha. Par yahan pe bhi yeh rule hai ye pata nahin
tha. Ab muze pata chal gaya hai, toh agli bar se dhyan mein rakhunga.“
Then I said "Sir isi liye toh aapko fine bharna chahiye. so that agli bar se
aap jyada acche se dhyan mein rakhoge."
• Chandrashekhar Kolhatkar: Later I telephoned API Mr. Raut to thank
him for helping Op. Achanak. He appreciated work done by whole of SPTM
team and expected continued co-operation and Op. Achanak on a
continued basis. Found that during operation almost 85-90 % of vehicle
riders were following traffic discipline. Still there were 10 -15 % arrogent
people deliberately violating Traffic Rules. These 10-15% are the people
who encourage good people to follow them and break traffic rules. On
regular basis if Police catch such people and force them to fall in line I am
sure Traffic Situation will improve fast.

10. •Thank you