In the conference room of government guest house at Thycaud on Friday, women traffic wardens, dressed in their familiar blue and khaki uniform, expressed anguish at the government machinery’s failure to recognise them.
“The traffic authorities act as if we are not their staff. It is the same with the City Corporation. Neither wants to recognise us. It is as if we are children of the road. There is no place for us to go and present our issues,” a traffic warden said.
The traffic wardens had turned up for a public hearing organised by the Kerala Women’s Commission on problems faced by women traffic wardens and home guards in the State, the 11th and last in a series of such hearings to hear out problems faced by women in various sectors.
The women wardens said they worked as part of the police’s traffic wing and the City Corporation’s paid parking system, and wanted recognition from the authorities. “No one enquires about us if we are involved in an accident. Only other wardens turn up to help. We received identity cards only a year ago, after a wait for years.”
They said people on the road often turned to them for help, asking for directions or which bus to board, but they also encountered foul-mouthed motorists who abused them and refused to pay the parking fee of ₹10 for four-wheelers and ₹2 for two-wheelers for an hour. “They even walk away with the receipts, leaving us to make up for the shortfall in collection from our pockets.”
The wardens said they brave the sun and the rain for a paltry wage of ₹500 a day. “Except for those who are sponsored by establishments such as hospitals, the rest of us are paid from the parking revenue collected in a month,” a warden said.
However, it was difficult to reach the target of ₹11 lakh in collections that is needed to pay their wages.
They were rarely paid on time either. The wardens said they were yet to receive the pay for January. Their pay was last hiked during V.K. Prasanth’s Mayoral tenure.
They did not enjoy any benefits such as provident fund, ESI, or health-accident insurance either.
Lack of toilet facilities
An issue that both traffic wardens and civil defence volunteers under the Fire and Rescue Services pointed out was the lack of toilet facilities for them. Public toilets were more often than not under lock and key, they said, calling for such facilities near their work space.
Home guards who attended the hearing said they had spent years working away from home, and now wanted to be assigned to police stations near their houses.
The civil defence volunteers sought travel allowance and uniform that was more suited to their work. They also pointed out that they were not given any kind of honorarium or pay just because they were a volunteer force.
Key recommendations
The commission has decided to recommend that the wardens be given a salary at least equal to that of contract workers, along with medical insurance. Access to toilet facilities in government offices near the locations where the traffic wardens worked or whichever facility nearby had them was another recommendation.
Commission chairperson P. Satheedevi, members Indira Raveendran and V.R. Mahilamani, director Shaji Sugunan, member secretary Sonia Washington, project officer N. Divya, and research officer A.R. Archana spoke.
