New traffic guardians for Rajarhat

KOLKATA: Come February, and Rajarhat is set to be an integral part of Kolkata Police. The idea is to improve traffic management between New Town (via stretches of Sector V) and the EM Bypass-Chingrighata crossing.
Last week, when Hidco chairman Gautam Deb made the announcement saying that Jyoti Basu Nagar (New Town aka Rajarhat's new name) would now be manned by Kolkata Police and not Bengal Police, one wondered if the change of jurisdiction would make much difference to commuting.After all, Kolkata Police already has its hands full.
In September last year, the city police was given the onus of manning all of EM Bypass. But there are no signs yet of the recruitment of the 460 sergeants required to handle the added burden. And now, another 13-odd kilometres along the Salt Lake Bypass between Jyoti Basu Nagar and the E M Bypass-Chingrighata crossing will be under their jurisdiction.
Despite the odds, Kolkata Police, it seems, is ready to take on the challenge. And 50 constables, 100 homeguards, 100 green police volunteers, 10 traffic sergeants, two inspectors and a retired deputy commissioner have been kept aside to get cracking from February 1.
"Since there is a major staff crunch, we have deployed all these traffic personnel from other units of Kolkata Police. The policemen for New Town have been selected from sections like wireless and reserve force," police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti told TOI on Thursday.
The handover as announced by Hidco which has been in charge of the satellite township was postponed from January 26 as Kolkata Police bought time to streamline things. Chakrabarti said, "It's an important task. We have to bring traffic in the area, which is sure to grow by leaps and bounds as Jyoti Basu Nagar emerges as the most happening financial hub and major satellite township in the near future, under one unified force."
As the men on duty take their positions barely a week from now, one of their first things that they have to ensure is to ensure lane driving and effecting speed control. "Our biggest challenge will be to curb the accident rate in the area. To ensure safe driving, strict action will be taken against over-speeding," said Chakrabarti.
The police chief also talked of coordinated action as four police stations within the Salt Lake Bypass Bidhannagar East, Electronics Complex, New Town and Rajarhat would still be under Bengal Police. The fifth Beliaghata is under Kolkata Police.
That's easier said than done. "I presume a duality would continue to exist because Kolkata Police would only be responsible for law enforcement (over-speeding, violating signals, drunken driving etc) while Bengal Police would have to take care of the criminal cases (relating to accidents and deaths). Coordination between the two police administrations, therefore, is the need of the hour," said IG (traffic) Adhir Sharma. Dilip Banerjee, DC (traffic), agreed with the top traffic cop of Bengal Police. "The local thana is supposed to look into cases, post traffic hours. It also deals with accidents. But I guess it is possible to bridge the communication gap with time," he said.
What's more important is that Kolkata Police is far better equipped to handle important stretches like New Town because it has a better manpower and better gadgets than Bengal Police. And currently, there are only two auto-manual traffic signals in Rajarhat. Once it comes under Kolkata Police, it will be a part of the elaborate system (control room, motorbike-driving traffic sergeants and constables with hand-held wireless sets). Bengal Police has none of these. In fact, pressed for funds, Bengal Police had once roped in an advertising agency to install traffic signs at New Town. Hidco had turned down the proposal, as it had to the idea of handing over Rajarhat to Kolkata Police.
A senior official at Writers' Buildings wondered what made Hidco change its mind after all these years. His guess: "Perhaps including Rajarhat makes sense politically. Ahead of the assembly elections, this satellite township is being projected by the state government as a growth milestone.
The political will is sure to find a way out of the existing traffic chaos along the important, yet accident-prone, stretch. New Town will now have a vehicle-actuated signal system and would eventually be exposed to the much-hyped area traffic control. Thus, this traffic zone, too, will have CCTV cameras and be part of Kolkata Police's Global Positioning System (GPS).