State procures 10 interceptor vehicles to strengthen enforcement activity

The Transport department has procured 10 interceptor vehicles to strengthen enforcement activity throughout the state. State Transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty on Wednesday inaugurated one of such vehicles at Paribahan Bhawan-II in Kasba.

These vehicles will be distributed across the state, three will be for Kolkata, two for Siliguri and the rest will be given to other districts. The minister inaugurated one such vehicle on Wednesday while the rest are deemed to be made ready for the motor vehicle officers by Friday. “We are strengthening our enforcement team so that increased checking can take place and vehicles flouting rules can be caught. In future, we will increase the number of these interceptor vehicles and aim to introduce them in each district,” Chakraborty said.

Earlier, the motor vehicles officers did not have a dedicated vehicle for interception work. With this addition, they believe that the efficiency will increase and they will be able to catch vehicles flouting rules. The new interceptor vehicles were procured from Mahindra and Mahindra. It cost Rs 22 lakh per vehicle along with the various equipment. The Scorpio vehicle includes one set of bar light with PA system, branding as per RTO, seat modification with custom floor mat along with monopod stand for speed gun, battery, tint meter, internal roof lighting and lux meter for checking intercity of light. According to a transport official, the aim is to distribute two such vehicles in different districts in order to strengthen the enforcement activity. The vehicle also has one speed laser gun with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) capability which will detect the number through vahan and accordingly e-challan will be produced.

In January, the minister had inaugurated the policy intervention and a road map for speed management to enhance road safety. It was claimed that the state became the first to adopt a scientific approach in ensuring the same. Chakraborty had said that a couple of roads with high road accident rates will be identified and the speed management will be first implemented there. He said that after 2014, we have been able to reduce the number of road accidents and that the state is now trying to bring the data down to zero.