Police mulls CCTV’s

Darjeeling, Mar 4: A day after this newspaper hit the anchor corner in the front page yesterday, the law enforcers as a quick measure in Darjeeling said that the traffic police will install a CCTV cameras at four main points of the town. An officer said that the police have found many vehicles being parked in the restricted areas triggering problems for the pedestrians and at the same time leading to traffic snarls on a number of occasions. “In Darjeeling Traffic rules are neglected by the drivers. There are also inadequate places for parking in the town. The plans to install the CCTV cameras

will be done at the earliest. The process for seeking permission form Highway division is in the offing,” said a traffic  fficial. The Himalayan Mirror yesterday had reported that how the vehicles are being parked on top of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) tracks visibly seen in Kurseong town during day. The report also said that it was not only the law enforcers who are responsible for solving the problem of parking in all the three hill subdivision but people in general

along with the authorities are equally responsible in solving the long standing traffic wooes of the hills. The officer stating that the traffic rules are neglected by the drivers coupled with inadequate spaces in the hills has coincided with what this newspaper wrote. However, the traffic officials in Darjeeling today said that in the year 2012, 3600 cases were registered under traffic offenses. “A fine of Rs. 17 lakhs, 79 thousand and rupees 650 was collected. In January this year a sum of Rs. 3 lakhs has already been collected as fine under traffic offenses,” said the traffic officer. Despite all these, the cab owners

or the drivers continue to float the traffic norms but all the blame however does not lie with the cab drivers. Sources from the Police department said at sometimes the drivers cannot be booked for floating norms because the department is not able to provide proper space for parking facilities. “By installation of the CCTV’s it is expected that the problem of illegal parking would come down,” said a Police officer. As an effort from the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), a parking slot is under construction at DRC godown a few meters away from the Darjeeling Railway station.