The state transportation department asked the police on Friday to improve the performance of highway patrol units stationed on accident-prone stretches in order to reduce fatalities.
Bishnupada Sethi, the state commerce and transport secretary has drawn the attention of Sanjeeb Panda, the additional director general (Crime Branch), to the poor performance of the highway patrol units. During a review of the highway patrol units’ performance in November and December 2021, Sethi observed that the units’ special police officers (SPOs) failed to crack the whip on traffic violators in many places.
A total of 36 highway patrol teams have been deployed on five highly vulnerable stretches (36 mini stretches) in various districts to enforce traffic rules and transport accident victims to nearby hospitals.
“The teams detected only 1046 cases of traffic rule violations in November.” This reflects on their poor performance. During the month, eighteen teams did not detect a single traffic violation. “Their performance was also poor in December,” Sethi wrote in his letter to Panda. The letter also stated that steps may be taken to increase enforcement on the vulnerable stretches. “There is a 12% increase in accident deaths from January to October 2021 when compared to the same period in 2020.” To catch violators, highway patrol teams should use speed laser guns and alcohol breathalyzers. Concerned SPs should be directed to monitor the performance of highway patrol units, according to the transport secretary.
The Crime Branch stated that due to the Covid pandemic, enforcement activities could not be carried out properly in November and December. “Since the Covid situation has improved, we will request that highway patrol units step up their efforts,” a Crime Branch officer said. He stated that a proposal has been sent to the commerce and transport department to delegate the authority to SPOs to issue challans under the Motor Vehicles Act. Another proposal has been submitted to the home department, requesting that SPOs be given authority to arrest drunk drivers. Because they were appointed after retiring from the Odisha police, the SPOs are not currently authorised to issue challans to traffic violators.
Prasanta Patnaik