BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to reduce road accidents by curbing traffic violations, Transport department has planned to install 100 cameras in at least 80 locations as part of its intelligent enforcement management system. The department has floated the tender for the same and its work order is expected to be issued by December end. The cameras will be monitored from the department’s command control centre in the capital city.
As of now, at least six cameras have been installed in each gantry across 21 locations starting from Rameswar in Khurda to Panikoili in Jajpur under Deesha project. Sources in the department said it has been noticed vehicles arriving from neighbouring West Bengal are involved in several accidents near Balasore.
The department has planned to install the new cameras till Laxmannath check gate in Balasore to reduce road accidents and fatalities arising out of them. The new cameras will be radar-based and help in detecting violations like over-speeding, using mobile phone while driving, wrong side driving, triple riding and not wearing helmets/seat belts.
“Several road accidents and fatalities are caused due to over-speeding. The new cameras will check over-speeding and other traffic violations up to Laxmannath check gate,” said a senior official of the Transport department.
Between January and September this year, while Cuttack RTO has issued 8,315 e-challans for over-speeding violation, 4,326 were issued by Kalahandi, 4,401 by Keonjhar, 4,290 by Mayurbhanj, 3,999 by Bhubaneswar RTO-I and 3,996 by Ganjam.
Road accidents and the fatalities arising out of them remains a cause of major concern as there has been a growth of 2.84 per cent and 4.89 per cent respectively in the first three quarters of this year as compared to the corresponding period last year. Around 8,939 road accidents and 4,178 deaths were reported between January and September this year.
Apart from installing new cameras, the Transport department has provided 300 e-challan devices to as many police stations in various parts of the state. “Our target is to provide more than 1,100 e-challan devices to the police station in Odisha with the assistance of the State Bank of India. Till September this year, more than 4.76 lakh e-challans have been issued,” said an official.
The e-challans issued till September include 1,25,483 for over speeding, 1,24,504 for not wearing helmet, 11,044 for not wearing seat belts, 6,387 for using mobile phone while driving, 485 for offences committed by juveniles, among others.
E-challans issued
(Between January and September)
8,315 e-challans issued by Cuttack RTO
4,326 by Kalahandi
4,401 by Keonjhar
4,290 by Mayurbhanj
3,999 by Bhubaneswar RTO-I
3,996 by Ganjam