Police have stationed a wrecker van on the Parama flyover where vehicles break down often, leading to huge snarls.
The wrecker van has been parked at the opening between the two flanks of the flyover near the Viswakarma building during the morning and evening rush hours since Friday.
The opening is meant for vehicles to switch flanks of the flyover during an emergency. Since Friday, the time taken to reach a vehicle that has broken down has reduced by more than half. As an effect of this, the duration of snarls has also lessened significantly, said an officer.
Earlier, a wrecker van had to go from either the Park Circus seven-point crossing on the west or any of the two arms of the flyover at the Science City (east)-end.
It used to take about 10 minutes for the van to reach the vehicle. Now, the wrecker van can reach the affected vehicle in 2-3 minutes.
Earlier, snarls resulting from a breakdown would last for over 30 minutes. This has now been reduced by at least 10 minutes.
The wrecker van is usually parked between 9am and noon and again between 5pm and 9pm, when traffic on the flyover is at its peak.
“It took up to 15 minutes for a wrecker van to reach a defunct car earlier.... The van can now reach in 2-3 minutes. On an average, five or six vehicles break down daily on the flyover,” said an officer of the Kolkata police’s traffic department.