Govt plans special training for drivers of ministers’ cars

In a bid to ensure safety and security of ministers, senior MLAs and MPs, the state government is planning to take steps to provide special training to drivers of their cars.

This comes after MP Abhishek Banerjee had met with an accident on National Highway 2 near Singur in Hooghly while returning from a meeting of the party in Murshidabad.

In a recent meeting in Nabanna, top brass of the state and Kolkata Police along with the officials from the state Transport department had pointed out that drivers of many ministers do not have training to driver cars in a convoy.

Drivers of most of them had been driving their respective cars from the time when they had not become a minister.

“Like common people, ministers too are not in favour of changing drivers of their cars frequently. Thus, it is being planned that the drivers would be given a special training to improve their driving skills,” said a state government official, adding that at the same time many drivers underwent driving training decades ago.

Thus they are not well aware like the drivers who underwent training in the recent times. The special training would also help them pick up the dos and don’ts of driving that they had learnt many years ago.

Though it is yet to be decided that from when the training would start, a preliminary programme has been prepared based on which the drivers would get trained.

First of all they would be provided training to learn how to follow the vehicles preceding his car in a convoy while driving on a congested road and at the same time what the parameters are which need to be followed while driving on highways.

They would also be given a lesson on food habits that need to be maintained while on a long a distance tour and how long they must sleep to ensure they do not feel sleepy while driving the car.

“Sometimes drivers fall sleepy even after having the required sound sleep. They must immediately park the car on the side of the road to avoid an accident. But it would be a difficult task to park the car aside when moving in a convoy. Thus the drivers will be taught how to control the situation,” the official said.

Since the drivers remain too busy most of the time, the officials are working out when to organise the training programme for them.