Page No.19-28
Sibnath Deb, Tanusree Chakraborty, Pooja Chatterjee and
Neerajakshi Srivastava
Calcutta University, Kolkata
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Traffic constables play a very significant role in controlling the traffic system
especially in the metropolitan cities despite several limitations. The broad objective
of the present study was to understand the job-related stress of traffic constables,
causal factors behind the same, coping strategies as well as other problems faced
by them in discharging their duties efficiently and perceived solution. A group of
68 traffic constables under Kolkata Police were randomly selected from 11 Traffic
Guards. Data were collected by using a standardized psychological scale entitled
‘Occupational Stress Index’ and a ‘’Semi-Structure Questionnaire’. The study
disclosed that 79.4% of the traffic constables were stressed (76.5% moderately
and 2.9% highly) because of a number of factors like inadequate rest, lack of
communication with the family members, long duty hours, inadequate leave,
political pressure, excessive number of vehicles on the road, hot weather, noncooperation from public, lack of coordination among colleagues, seeing too many
accidents on the road, problems at home and so on. The most common coping
strategies adopted included sharing problems with the colleagues, family members
and friends, becoming workaholic, accepting the reality, watching TV, being
optimistic about future, exercise and so on. They also face some other problems
like lack of manpower, offensive language from public, non-cooperation from higher
authorities, lack of infrastructure and unnecessary case pressure. They suggested
some solutions for addressing the problems faced by them like reduction of duty
hours, recruitment of more staff, salary hike, proper interaction among all categories
of staff, removal of internal politics, strict enforcement of discipline in the
department, use of Euro II vehicles and so on
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