States » EastPosted at: Sep 18 2026 11:03PM


Suvendu announces public helpline, inaugurates live control room

Kolkata, Sep 18 (UNI) Announcing measures to monitor and speed up vehicular movement across the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday inaugurated a live control room, announced a public helpline besides the deployment of additional personnel, and said the automated traffic control systems were also being considered.
Adhikari, who launched a new live traffic control room at Arakshya Bhaban, the state's traffic headquarters, at Salt Lake here, said it would help regulate traffic on the state's roads and swiftly identify congestion issues.
"It allows for the monitoring of conditions at various key roads and checkpoints— spanning from Kolkata to Darjeeling— from a single location," he said.

Lashing out at the former Trinamool Congress regime in the state, the chief minister said the traffic system was the most neglected area during the previous regime.
The Chief Minister said, "The previous government had carried out work worth only Rupees 6 crore in the area of traffic management in Darjeeling. In contrast, within four months, we have allocated Rs 249 crore for 465 schemes from the Disaster Management Fund across the state."
In addition, Rs 360 crore has been allocated for traffic management in the state budget, of which Rs 63 crores has already been released, with the work already commencing.
Noting that the primary objective of the new live control room is to alleviate the problems faced by commuters and ensure the smooth flow of traffic, Adhikari emphasised the need to strengthen traffic checkposts at several critical locations across the state.
The CM said he viewed the live feeds at the checkposts in Farakka, Pulsit, Dankuni, and Dhulagarh during the day.

"Additional traffic personnel will be deployed in areas experiencing heavy traffic volume. We are also considering implementing automated traffic control systems if deploying adequate manpower in all locations proves unfeasible."

"The surveillance will extend beyond curbing illegal parking, littering, and other unlawful activities on Kolkata's streets; it will also monitor the deliberate creation of traffic jams after 9 PM in areas such as Palsit (Bardhaman), Dankuni (Hooghly), Farakka (Murshidabad), Kaliachak (Malda), and Dalkhola-Islampur (North Dinajpur). The reasons behind this will be investigated," he said.
The chief minsiter also launched a helpline number for traffic - 18003458922 - to allow the public to communicate directly with the administration regarding traffic-related issues. A facility for lodging complaints via WhatsApp would also be introduced in the future.
Expressing concern over traffic congestion in the hills, Adhikari said that due to a lack of adequate parking space in Darjeeling and Kalimpong, vehicles often occupy nearly 60 per cent of the roadway, causing inconvenience to both residents and tourists.
"Initiatives will be undertaken to develop parking facilities while keeping the region's ecology and environment in mind," he said.

The District Magistrates of Darjeeling and Kalimpong have been instructed to carry out the necessary work in collaboration with the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA)
.
The Chief Minister said he might take up the matter with the officials during his scheduled visit to the hills on October 7.
The Chief Minister announced the launch of a special toll-free number (1800 345 8922) to facilitate direct public participation in curbing artificial traffic congestion and violations of traffic laws.
He stated that measures have been initiated to improve the traffic system by setting up new traffic kiosks, reactivating old ones, repairing roads, installing new traffic signals and barriers, and implementing automatic traffic signalling systems. WhatsApp, email, and a dedicated mobile app would also be introduced later.
Adhikari also assured that repair work on the rain-damaged state and national highways will be completed swiftly before the Durga Puja, through coordination between District Magistrates (DMs) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) under the supervision of the Chief Secretary.
UNI BGA SSP BM
Tags: #Suvendu announces public helpline# inaugurates live control room
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