1500 volunteers to help police manage traffic

In what could be seen as an attempt by Delhiites to come forward and show their enthusiasm for the Commonwealth Games, 1500 volunteers will help the Delhi Traffic Police  regulate traffic from October 1 till the Games end. These volunteers, trained by Delhi Traffic Police, will be distinctly dressed in T-shirts, caps, and reflective jackets and will be seen all over the city at various road junctions. Of these, 600 volunteers are from Nirankari Mandal.

The volunteers, who came from different backgrounds and comprise mostly youngsters, responded to Delhi Traffic Police's call for volunteers mainly through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. ''A friend and I decided to volunteer together. We want to stay true to Indian tradition of 'athithi devo bhava'. This is our time to make India shine,'' claimed 21-year-old BBA student Nishant Bhardwaj.

Some of them were homemakers or with private jobs who had taken time off to extend their services. But what was uniform was the palpable excitement in the volunteers for playing a part in the Games. ''This is a great opportunity for India and we are doing this out of commitment to social work. Though the Games have been riddled with problems, we need to think positive and make it a success,'' claimed Vaibhav Sharma, a first-year MBA student and a volunteer.

These volunteers have been through three briefing sessions by the traffic police where they were trained in rules and regulations, the dedicated lane traffic rules as well as the different categories of vehicles of players, media, dignitaries as well as other vehicles that will be plying in the blue lanes. They have also been taught to direct traffic during emergency situations like when there is a glitch in the traffic lights or there is heavy traffic flow.