Sanjay Nirala

Noida (Uttar Pradesh), September 20 Every week from Monday to Friday, commuters on the busy Ghaziabad-Noida underpass on National Highway 24 adjoining the capital are greeted by a rare sight — a well-built man, clad in cargo pants and T-shirt, waving his arms frantically and hollering at the top of his voice, standing in the middle of a sea of honking cars.

Meet Sanjeev Trehan, a 52-year-old catering firm owner from Indirapuram in Ghaziabad.

For the past three years, every morning from 8.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. Trehan would come to this narrow underpass, hardly 12 feet wide, to help regulate traffic.

Though a couple of police personnel are deployed there on most days, the sheer volume of vehicles proves more than a handful for the hapless cops.

But why would anyone embark on a mission to drill sense into unruly motorists, even if their death race to cross the narrow underpass has converted the entire area into a daily commuting nightmare?

“I started this initiative as a social service. A few years ago, I was stuck here for about 40 minutes and was shocked that no one cared to manage the traffic. I felt that something must be done about it and here I am,” says Trehan.

According to daily commuters, the first thing Trehan does is put up police barriers to regulate traffic, as sometimes there are no cops around to make use of them. It helps in blocking traffic coming from Noida and leaves the underpass open for commuters from Indirapuram, Vasundhara, Vaishali and other adjoining areas.

This simple traffic management of giving preference to the heavy office-bound traffic benefits commuters on both the sides as the entire area gets free of bottlenecks.

Anubhav Sinha, a manager in a multinational firm, who has been using the underpass for the last two years, says: “First, I thought he must be a cop but later I came to know about him through my neighbors. Whenever I see him, I always thank him and tell him that he is doing a great job for society.”

Traffic policeman are more than happy to have someone like Trehan around.

“He has been doing this for quite some time. And we appreciate his service. More people should come forward to render services like these,” says a traffic constable posted in Indirapuram.

Seema Chaudhary, a lecturer, is all praise for Trehan. “It is hard to believe. Very few people care to offer such a selfless service. Hats off to him,” she says.

When asked how he feels about these words of praise, Trehan says: “I don’t want praises for what I do. I just want people to follow the traffic rules.”