Second batch of Jolosathis complete training

Kolkata: The training of the second batch of Jalosathis has completed on Wednesday, at the Police Training College in Barrackpore.

They will be deployed at the jetties to avoid any untoward incident. The state Transport department has improved the infrastructure of the jetties, following a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

It may be recalled that around 91 Jalosathis had received training in the first batch and they have already been deployed at different jetties.

The state Transport department took up the project to improve the infrastructure of jetties, to avoid incidents like the one at Telenipara, that claimed lives when a temporary jetty had collapsed and at the same time, to deploy Jalosathis at all the jetties.

The main task of the Jalosathis will be to ensure that the SOP is followed at the jetties and it includes keeping a tab to check overloading of vessels and to ensure safety of passengers. At the same time, they also have to ensure that all passengers put on safety jackets and proper illumination of the area.

Besides taking up the project of improving infrastructure of jetties, the state government had introduced the Jalodhara scheme to replace the semi-mechanised vessels with properly designed modern ones.

The state Transport department will be engaging a total of 626 Jalosathis and they will be undergoing training in phases.

Sources said that Jalosathis will be deployed at different jetties in Hooghly, North 24-Parganas, Howrah, South 24-Parganas and 11 jetties of the West Bengal Transport Corporation.