Kolkata Police adds muscle to their fleet with five new Harley Davidson Street 750cc bikes

Kolkata is a classic dichotomy: it wants to move ahead with the winds of change, but at the same time clutch on to its colonial past. It’s quite hard to believe, but nearly a century ago, Kolkata was very much the ‘second city’ of the British Raj and capital of India until 1911.

A Kolkata Police traffic sergeant inspects the newly-acquired Harley Davidson street 750cc motorcycle at Lal Bazar, Kolkata police headquarters on Thursday, August 24, 2017. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

While the city doesn’t rank high in terms of embracing new technology, Kolkata Police, which is decidedly one of the country’s oldest institution, just ushered in one of the most sweeping change: Aside from its massive fleet of Royal Enfield motorcycles, it’s added more teeth to its existing line-up by adding five Harley Davidson Street 750 cc bikes.

Two traffic sergeants riding a Royal Enfield (left) and the Harley Davidson (right) at Lal Bazar, Kolkata Police headquarters on Thursday, August 24, 2017. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

Five black Harley Davidson Street 750 cc motorcycles have been inducted into the Kolkata Police fleet for active duty. The big-capacity motorcycles will be used primarily as a piloting vehicle for important dignitaries. Sergeants, dressed in all-white, will be riding these.

Established by the British, Kolkata Police has its origins as early as 1720 when the East India Company appointed an officer to be in charge of keeping the city on the move. Interestingly, it’s the only police force in the country that has the post of Sergeant, the officers in all-white riding Red Royal Enfields responsible for manning the city’s chaotic traffic.

A traffic sergeant rides the new Harley Davidson near Eden Garden on Thursday, August 24, 2017. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

It was during the Independence Day celebrations when people stole a glance of the black and white (customised by Kolkata police) Harley Davidson on the streets. The bikes came out during the ceremonial parade on the Red Road.

Weighing a hefty 229 kgs, the Harley Davidson Street 750 is powered by a liquid-cooled V-twin engine that dishes out 53 bhp of power, shod with disc brakes, anti-lock braking system (ABS) and six gears. The Kolkata Police customised the bike using flashers with LED set, beacons, hooter, a rear seat cowl, leg guard and a utility box.

(Express photo: Partha Paul)

As of today, Kolkata Police has approximately 600 Royal Enfield motorcycles which costs around Rs 1.50 lakh each (on road). But the police got the bikes for around Rs 1 lakh. Similarly, the Harley Davidson Street 750 costs about Rs 5.5 lakh (for civilians), but the police got it for Rs 5 lakh.

(Express photo by Partha Paul)

When asked how it felt riding these new bikes, a Kolkata Police Sergeant, riding the Harley on an overcast afternoon in the city’s central business district hums a popular Bengali romantic melody sung by Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. “Ei poth jyodi na sesh hoe (May this journey never end).”

A traffic sergeant with the newly-owned Harley Davidson Street 750 cc in front of Rajbhavan on Thursday , August 24, 2017. (Express photo by Partha Paul)