Thrissur: Faced with an unprecedented heat wave, the Kerala government has called for a break in outdoor work from the noon to 3 pm. While labourers, including the ones from other states, heave a sigh from the directive, more than 2,000 traffic policemen get no reprieve even at high noon.
This includes more than 300 Home Guards who work for meagre wages. As many as 15 personnel on traffic duty were hit by sunstroke within a month. The government has allotted Rs 40,000 to each district to distribute drinking water to the traffic personnel.
The Thrissur city police administration has allowed men on duty to hold an umbrella and move to a shade when the traffic is comparatively smoother. Their counterparts elsewhere in the state hope that their superiors relax norms to allow them to seek the comfort of a shade.
Kerala has more than 5,000 traffic police personnel. Although they work in shifts, 1,500 to 1,700 men would be on duty around noon. Including the Home Guards, this count would go up to 2,000. Working in the middle of the road, these men experience more heat than any other labourers.
