Mamata wants tougher laws to control road accidents

Expressing her concern over repeated fatal road accidents in the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said in the Assembly that stringent rules will be introduced to check rash driving especially motorcycle racing that leads to most accidents.

Two-wheeler racing is a current trend in the city and despite several steps being taken to stop it, errant bike riders manage to find some road or the other for racing.

While giving reply at the end of the discussion on the West Bengal Clinical Establishment (Registration, Regulation and Transparency) Bill, the Chief Minister said that the state government is going to take necessary steps to check road accidents as it has become a "very serious matter".

She said: "Illegal bike racing is coming up as a major problem in the state as it is claiming countless lives. It is fine when people use two-wheelers for their work but the government will confiscate bikes of those who will race. At the same time, stringent rules will also be in place."

It may be recalled that the Chief Minister had launched the state-wide "Safe Drive Save Life" campaign, a few months ago. It had helped in reducing the number of road accidents. The campaign was introduced as Bengal was one of the many states in the country where accidents were considerably more in number.

The Chief Minister had also directed the police to restrict plying of two-wheelers on Maa Flyover, AJC Bose Road Flyover and Park Street Flyover. Policemen get posted at both ends of all the three flyovers so that two-wheelers do not ply on those. The major problem was that a section of youth used to race motorbikes on the flyovers which had led to the loss of several lives.

Even biker clubs were set up. The members of the clubs used to risk their lives to earn some fast cash by racing motorbikes in the wee hours. The police had stopped such racing. Recently, there was an accident in which a girl, who was a Madhyamik examinee and a 20-year-old youth died when their motorbike collided against a railing on Kamalgazi flyover.

The state government has also taken step to construct a 3-lane bridge over river Ajay at Illambazar and four Rail Over Bridges (ROB) to improve road connectivity and safety. The bridge over river Ajay connecting Panagarh-Illambazar Road, replacing the old one will come up at a cost of Rs 102.25 crore. The three ROBs will come up at Jhankar More in Siliguri, Gajoldoba, one at Nalikul connection Baidyabati-Tarakeswar Road and Nalhati Railway station. The total cost of the five projects is Rs 251.51 crore.