In a state teeming with VVIPs and their escorts, driving on roads has become a risky proportion. These vehicles claim one life-a-month on an average in Punjab, and this month alone has seen two casualties. In the past one year, official vehicles of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal have been involved in three accidents, one of which proved fatal for a motorcyclist. The run-up to the elections last year also saw the pilot vehicle of then chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh mow down the only son of a widow. Unlike neighbouring Haryana, where only ministers enjoy escorts and pilots, Punjab is brimming with these status symbols. The fatal accident involving Badal’s pilot vehicle happened on January 20. Balihar Ram of Mala village near Phillaur was riding a motorcycle when he was hit near Khati village. Ironically, Badal was not even in the cavalcade; he was flying down to Hoshiarpur and the escort vehicles were racing to catch up with him. The accident numbers are a reflection of just how many vehicles on VIP duty are on the road. While militancy was officially declared over in 1993, over 15 per cent of the 70,000-strong Punjab police is on security duty, with 225-plus police vehicles used as escorts or pilots.This number doesn’t include the security vehicles with the Chief Minister and his immediate family, including his wife Surinder Kaur and son Sukhbir Singh Badal. Nor does it cover the escorts used by officers posted in the field like senior superintendents of police, deputy commissioners, deputy inspector generals, inspector generals and divisional commissioners. Most of the VIPs, including cabinet ministers, are entitled only to escort Gypsies and not pilot vehicles. These are the privilege of just a handful, like the Chief Minister, Sukhbir Badal in his capacity as the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, all MPs, former chief ministers, the Director General of Police, the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, and the Anti-Terrorism Front’s M S Bitta. But regardless of the rules, all the VIPs worth their salt use escort vehicles, which are supposed to trail them, as pilots (lead) in utter violation of rules. The speed limits are also given a complete go by. Yadvinder Singh, the general secretary of the Punjab Drivers’ and Technical Employees’ Association, says most Government vehicles are not insured and and in case of an accident, the driver concerned shells out 50 per cent of the cost from his pocket. “It is a gross violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, but despite our repeated requests, the Government is not bothered.” Singh says another problem is that of whimsical VIPs, who tell their gunmen to drive the vehicles. “Then they blame us for accidents.” Sunday’s accident involving the escort Gypsy of former Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa is a classic case of rule violation. Though an escort, the Gypsy was being used as a pilot. One rash turn at the wheel and it collided with a Hyundai Accent at Kathgarh village near Ropar, resulting in the death of gunman Pargat Singh on the spot. An assistant sub-inspector, Jagdev Singh, also lost his life in a similar accident when he was leading the official vehicle of then Punjab cabinet minister Lal Singh from Delhi to Chandigarh over two years ago. In fact, drivers as well as policemen in the VVIP fleet often themselves become a casualty. Last week, Malkit Singh, a gunman attached with the pilot vehicle of Bibi Joginder Kaur, was killed when the Gypsy in which he was travelling fell into the Bhakra canal near Sirhind. The driver was in a hurry to overtake another vehicle when he lost control.
