To curb road accidents, West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Coorporation (HIDCO) with the help of Bidhannagar Police is likely to install high-tech road monitoring in New Town-Rajarhat area. Officials said the plan is still in its nascent stage and they are consulting with IBM, the American multinational technological company, for its execution. “We are working with IBM so that CCTV inputs could be analysed and with the help of artificial intelligence road accidents could be reduced,” said HIDCO CMD Debasis Sen at a function. Through this monitoring system, officials will be able to analyse the driving patterns of vehicles or read the behaviour of drivers, among others, using powerful integrated processors. Signal of any unsafe activity will be sent to the monitoring centre, which will eventually help in preventing accidents. Bidhannagar Police has also increased road surveillance in areas under its jurisdiction by installing more CCTV cameras. On Monday, they inaugurated a computerised control room, which will receive live updates from all the CCTV cameras installed across areas in Bidhannagar. “Due to integrated traffic management and surveillance system, we have not only been able to manage traffic, but it has also helped us in fighting crime,” said Bidhannagar Commissioner of Police Gyanwant Singh. Officials said that the government has spent huge funds to purchase different road safety equipment. “In 2015-16, the transport department had allotted Rs 5 crore to Kolkata police and Rs 9 crore to Bengal Police. In 2016- 2017, Kolkata Police received Rs 8.5 crore and Bengal Police Rs 24 crore,” said Principal Secretary (Transport) Alapan Bandopadhyay.
