Taking a cue from the Kolkata, Bengaluru and Mumbai police departments, the Hyderabad city police seem to have only recently discovered that they can use humour to get their messages across via their official Twitter handle.

It may have been fun in small doses, but the obsessive recourse to rhyme all the time has ended up putting people off.

Kolkata, Bengaluru and Mumbai’s police departments have employed humour and pop-culture references to get their messages across but forced rhyme seems to be Hyderabad’s own innovation.

There is another problem. All of the rhymes, typed in capitalised letters throughout, have generated immense mirth and confusion. As one reader put it, “Why are they yelling at us?”

The men behind the account, Harinath Reddy and Hidayuthallah, apparently stumbled on the idea when they posted a humorous tweet seven months ago just to break the monotony of the page, a report in The New Indian Express revealed.

“Many don’t know, but the Hyderabad Traffic Police page (nearly 2.9 lakh likes) has been active since 2012,” Reddy told the publication.

“However, the posts were usually very formal, like traffic diversions, general warnings against violence etc. About seven months ago, hesitantly I put up a humourous post and it went down with the page followers really well. Our superiors too weren’t against it. Of course, the official announcements and posts still hold their place.”

But, clearly, it is not going down well with everyone.