Asansol–Durgapur tops state in road accident fatalities; Siliguri sees decline

Kolkata: Road accident fatalities showed sharp variation across police commissionerates in West Bengal in 2025, with Asansol–Durgapur recording the highest number of deaths and Bidhannagar the lowest, while trends across regions pointed to both improvement and deterioration.

Among the six commissionerates, Asansol–Durgapur reported 275 fatalities, followed by Howrah (182), Barrackpore (161), Siliguri (95), Chandannagar (62) and Bidhannagar (56).

Asansol–Durgapur, despite remaining the worst-affected, recorded a decline of 6.5 per cent in fatalities from 294 in 2024, while grievous injuries increased by 6.6 per cent from 152 to 162.

Howrah reported a 17.4 per cent rise in fatalities from 155 to 182. Barrackpore also recorded an increase, with fatalities rising 11.8 per cent from 144 to 161. Grievous injuries rose by 6.3 per cent in Howrah and 11.3 per cent in Barrackpore.

Chandannagar recorded a marginal rise, with fatalities increasing from 58 to 62 (+6.9 per cent) and grievous injuries from 48 to 55 (+14.6 per cent).

In contrast, Siliguri registered a decline, with fatalities falling from 128 to 95 (–25.8 per cent) and grievous injuries from 132 to 104 (–21.2 per cent). Bidhannagar also saw fatalities drop from 68 to 56, though grievous injuries rose from 169 to 181.

In the Kolkata Police Commissionerate, fatalities remained unchanged at 177 in both 2024 and 2025, though the distribution across divisions shifted.

Kolkata North Suburban and Kolkata Port recorded the highest fatalities at 25 each, up from 24 and 20, respectively. Kolkata South followed with 23 (up from 21), while Kolkata East reported 22 fatalities, marking the sharpest rise from 16 (+37.5 per cent). Kolkata Eastern Suburban remained unchanged at 19.

Kolkata South Suburban recorded 14 fatalities, up from 11, while Kolkata South East rose to 11 from 10. At the lower end, Kolkata South West recorded the lowest at 9, down from 16 (–43.8 per cent), while Kolkata Central declined from 25 to 15. The trend indicates a broader rise in fatalities across several divisions despite declines in select pockets.

Grievous injuries in Kolkata declined from 339 in 2024 to 235 in 2025. Kolkata Central reported the highest injuries at 53, followed by Kolkata North Suburban (46) and Kolkata South (37). Declines were recorded across most divisions, with only Kolkata East and Kolkata Bhangar reporting increases.

The data were sourced from the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD), developed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for standardised accident reporting. West Bengal has been onboarded onto the eDAR system since November 28, 2022, with live data entry and monitoring in place.