BHUBANESWAR: The much-hyped highway patrol, aimed at reducing road fatalities has failed to deliver as the vehicles engaged for the purpose are being used only during emergencies.
A performance review of highway patrol revealed the service provider was reluctant to run the vehicles more than 80 km per day as only one driver was provided for each vehicle making it difficult for him to work 24X7.
The service provider-TMJ Enterprises had hired 36 vehicles on outsourcing basis for the patrol which started on February 1. Though the vehicles are equipped with various instruments including VHF sets, breath analysers and speed laser guns, they are not GPS enabled.
A senior police official said highway patrol is not serving the purpose and the district SPs have already have apprised about the shortcomings of the system.
“The service provider has taken these patrol vehicles on hire from a third party and there is no written agreement between the vehicle owner and the service provider. On many occasions the vehicle owners instruct their drivers not to operate the vehicles due to non-payment of dues by the service provider leading to frequent interruption in patrolling,” he said.
Besides, the special police officers (retired police, CAPF personnel and ex-servicemen) engaged in highway patrol have not been delegated with the power to check traffic violations.
The deficiency in service of the patrol team came to the fore following rise in road accident deaths in the State. Although 377 road mishaps were reported on the 19 accident-prone routes between February and April this year, the highway patrol teams had failed to detect traffic violations at a majority of the vulnerable stretches.
While 68 accidents were reported on the Akhuapada to Maitipur route, Haldiapali to Godabhanga, Soro to Simulia (one of the most vulnerable stretches on NH-16) and Panposh chowk to Kansbahal, the patrolling teams did not find any traffic violation on these roads.
Only one each case of violation was detected by the patrolling team on the route from Barkul to Rambha, Chhatrapur to Gopalpur and Rambha to Chhatrapur though 45 mishaps took place on the stretches during three-month period. All the seven highway stretches are prone to accidents.
After the review, the State government has decided to terminate the contract of the service provider and deploy GPS-enabled vehicles linked with Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) to check road fatalities.
“The SPs will be asked to engage their vehicles from the district pool till new vehicles for highway patrols are hired. A proposal will be submitted to the government for delegation of power to SPOs for detection of traffic violations. All vehicles will be fitted with e-challan devices,” the officer added.