City sees lowest road accidents during Puja in past 3 years

Kolkata: This years Durga Puja, in Kolkata, was the safest with the least number of fatal and non-fatal road accidents being reported when compared to that of the past three years in the corresponding period of Tritia to Dashami.

In the eight days from Tritia to Dashami this year there were only two fatal road accidents claiming two lives while there were only four non-fatal accidents.

In the corresponding period of 2019 and 2020, there were five fatal cases claiming five lives and three fatal cases in which four persons were killed respectively.

This became possible with the police taking stricter measures against flouting traffic norms and seized 963 motorbikes for dangerous driving during the Puja days.

This year both the fatal cases took place on the day of Maha Navami (October 14) while there was one non-fatal accident each on Tritia, Chaturthi, Sasthi and Navami. The two separate fatal accidents on Navami involved a private bus and an unidentified vehicle. A pedestrian and a pillion rider of a two-wheeler were killed in the two separate accidents.

There were 14 and nine non-fatal cases in between Tritia and Dashami in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

This year's four separate non-fatal road accidents in the corresponding period involved a private bus, a mini-truck, a taxi and an auto-rickshaw.

"The drop in cases has become possible for taking strict and immediate action against traffic violations," said a senior officer of the Kolkata Police.

With the strict moves taken against violation of traffic norms, there was the highest number of prosecutions this time compared to that of 2019 and 202.

There were a total 30,068 prosecutions from Tritia to Dashami in 2021 compared to that of 18,390 and 23,834 in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

The prosecutions are for signal violation, parking violation, triple riding, without helmet, over speeding, rash driving, one-way violation, etc.

There were 17 assistant commissioners of police, 74 inspectors, 650 sergeants, 210 assistant sub-inspectors, 3200 constables and home guards, 1800 civic volunteers and 2200 temporary homeguards on road to ensure smooth and safe traffic movement during the Puja in Kolkata.