BHUBANESWAR: Concerned over rise in road fatalities, the State government has asked districts to intensify enforcement activities and patrolling on select stretches of highways in Odisha.
Expressing displeasure over the performance of highway patrolling, Principal Secretary of Transport department Bishnupada Sethi has stressed intensified enforcement through highway patrol teams and proper use of equipment including speed laser guns and breath analysers for detection of traffic rule violations.
While the Crime Branch has been asked to instruct SPs to monitor the performance of highway patrol teams, collectors have been directed to review the performance of RTOs and police regularly. The officials are also required to ensure submission of monthly reports for further action besides holding district road safety committee meetings to analyse the cause of accidents.
Highway patrol was rolled out in five vulnerable stretches of roads in the State having 36 mini stretches for reduction of accidents and fatalities. The monthly report of performance received from the Crime Branch indicates the poor performance of the teams in November and December last year.
While six patrol teams detected traffic violation cases in single digit, 18 teams did not detect even a single case of traffic norm violation though all the select stretches are vulnerable and a lot of cases of violations occurred there. Observing that a number of tragic accidents have occurred in Sonepur, Balasore and Mayurbhanj recently resulting in the deaths of several persons including minors, Sethi said the road fatalities rose by more than 12 per cent last year as compared to 2020.
Except six districts - Puri, Nayagarh, Koraput, Deogarh, Kendrapada and Sonepur, there has been increase in fatalities in all other districts. Transport officials and police have been asked to form joint squads and intensify enforcement against traffic rule violators with special emphasis on detection of overspeeding and road side parking.
Earlier, the districts had flagged the shortcomings in the highway patrolling system as the service provider was reluctant to run the vehicles for more than 80 km per day as only one driver was provided for each vehicle making it difficult for them to work 24X7. The service provider had taken the patrol vehicles on hire from a third party and there was no written agreement between them. On several occasions, the vehicle owners would instruct their drivers not to operate the vehicles due to non-payment of dues by the service provider leading to frequent interruption in patrolling.