Kolkata Traffic Police has issued a Rs 1.89-crore tender to restore faded road markings across the city, with key lane lines, stop lines and traffic boundaries scheduled to be renewed within the next three to four months.
The tender, valued at Rs 1,88,85,900, covers the procurement of 80,000 litres of specialised road-marking paint. The cost of applying the paint is not included in the tender. According to the tender documents reported by Times of India, bidders must submit an earnest money deposit of Rs 3,78,000, while the competitive bidding process is scheduled to be completed within November.
The procurement includes 70,000 litres of Chlorubber white road-marking paint valued at Rs 1,63,54,800, 10,000 litres of yellow paint valued at Rs 23,01,000 and 1,000 litres of blue paint valued at Rs 2,30,100. The police are undertaking the annual road-marking exercise at a larger scale this time after monsoon rain blurred markings on arterial roads and in construction-heavy areas.
The move follows repeated complaints from motorists about faded lane markers and unclear road boundaries. Some motorists and bikers have also challenged traffic citations, arguing that invisible stop lines and lane dividers made compliance difficult.
Kolkata Police plans to use durable materials and visibility-enhancing systems alongside the specified colour formulations. These include thermoplastic paints, reflectorised coatings and pre-fabricated sheets intended to improve visibility in different weather conditions and reduce the speed at which markings deteriorate.
White markings will be used for general lane discipline, broken lane lines and vehicle stop lines. Yellow markings will indicate no-overtaking zones, continuous central dividers and restricted parking areas. Blue paint and flexible traffic cones will be used for specialised pedestrian holding areas, emergency corridors and temporary lane shifts, particularly on narrower bridges and roads without permanent dividers.
The traffic authorities are also working with transport engineering experts from IIT Kharagpur to review and redesign intersections. The assessment will examine lane markings, intersection geometry, physical signage, signal visibility, pedestrian crossings and bus-stop locations.
This approach links the paint procurement to a wider review of how road space is organised at critical junctions. The condition and placement of markings affect not only enforcement but also how drivers position vehicles, how pedestrians cross roads and how traffic moves through areas where permanent dividers are absent.
Kolkata Police has separately launched an awareness drive on traffic compliance. The campaign includes clarification that stop-line violations are measured by the position of a vehicle’s front wheels rather than the front bumper.
The tender documents and the traffic police’s planned engineering review provide the immediate implementation framework. The road-marking work is expected to proceed after the bidding process, with the key markings targeted for completion within three to four months.
