West Bengal has launched a live traffic control room and a public helpline for traffic complaints, while Chief Minister Shuvendu Adhikari said road repair work across the state would be completed before Puja.
The control room was inaugurated at the state police traffic headquarters. Residents can report traffic-related complaints by calling 18003458922, according to the report by Bartaman Patrika – Kolkata.
Speaking at the headquarters, Adhikari said the new system would monitor traffic across the state and help authorities respond more quickly to congestion, accidents and other road-related problems. He said the arrangement would play an important role in surveillance and in taking necessary action when traffic conditions deteriorate.
The announcement places road repairs and traffic monitoring within the same pre-Puja operational plan. The chief minister said repair work would be completed before the festival, although the report did not specify the roads covered, the total length of repairs, the agencies responsible for execution or the allocation for the work.
Adhikari also expressed concern over congestion in the hills and discussed wider traffic-management problems. Parking was identified as another issue, and he said land would be provided to help address parking shortages. The report did not provide details about the parcels of land, their locations, the proposed facilities or the implementation schedule.
The chief minister said the causes of congestion would also be examined. This indicates that the administration intends to look beyond incident response and identify the factors contributing to recurring traffic problems, although no assessment framework or timeline for that exercise was provided in the announcement.
Adhikari said he had personally inspected several checkpoints, including Palsit, Dankuni, Farakka and Dhulagarh. Conditions were normal at most locations, he said, while adding that traffic regulation and monitoring needed to be strengthened in some important traffic areas.
The new helpline gives the public a direct channel for reporting traffic problems, while the control room is intended to provide the administration with a central monitoring mechanism. The report did not clarify whether complaints will be tracked through a formal case-management system, how response times will be measured or which authority will publish follow-up information.
The next steps announced by the government are the completion of road repairs before Puja, continued monitoring of traffic across the state, further examination of congestion causes and action to strengthen regulation in critical areas. Details of the repair programme, parking sites and operating procedures for the helpline remain to be disclosed.
