Electronic surveillance with tools such as speed guns and automatic number plate-recognition cameras will be stepped up on Kolkata’s roads in an attempt to bring down the number of accidents, a meeting of transport department officials on Wednesday resolved.
Senior officials met to find ways to increase prosecutions for traffic rule violations through electronic surveillance on stretches in the city and its adjoining
areas where accidents are frequent.
In Kolkata, more than 90 per cent of the motorcyclists have been found to be wearing helmets since the state government increased the fine for riding a two-wheeler without the head gear two years ago, officers said.
The tendency to speed has reduced, too, during this period.
A large number of the prosecutions were linked to electronic surveillance.
The government wants Kolkata’s adjoining police commissionerates to step up electronic surveillance to enforce road rules. In Kolkata too, the officials decided, more roads need to be brought under electronic surveillance.
“There are large stretches on key thoroughfares across the city that aren’t covered by cameras. In some places, cameras were damaged by cyclone Amphan (May 2020). We want these areas to be covered by electronic surveillance,” a senior officer of Kolkata police said.
“Electronic equipment such as automatic number plate-recognition cameras, speed laser guns, digital speed display boards and speed cameras will be installed in Kolkata and its adjoining areas for intensive surveillance,” said a senior official in the transport department who attended the meeting.
“More funds will be allocated from now for the procurement and installation of electronic surveillance tools.”
A December 2023 report by the ministry of road transport and highways says the number of annual deaths in Kolkata because of road accidents has declined by 50 per cent over the previous five years.
In Bengal, speeding was responsible for 4,080 of the 13,686 crashes in 2022, according to a report prepared by SaveLIFE Foundation, with support from the World Bank Group and the Union ministry of road transport and highways.
Of the 6,002 lives lost in the state because of road accidents in 2022, speeding accounted for 1,937.
The electronic equipment will be installed in areas that will be identified by an agency that has expertise in the field. Seven companies are likely to bid for the job, said an official.
“The company that wins the contract will go around visiting roads in Kolkata and its adjoining areas and draw up a budget for the gadgets. Representatives of some of these companies were present at the meeting,” the official said.