As early as next year, Uttar Pradesh could have a special team of about 1,100 policemen to patrol about 850 km of National Highways (NH).
“These policemen will be driving along the NH in specially designed and branded cars or motorbikes, to nab highway offenders and take care of victims of highway accidents. The vehicles would be equipped with breathalysers, bikes, cars, and car radio,” Rajesh Rohatgi, Senior Transport Specialist, said at an Indian Roads Congress conference on road safety. Uttar Pradesh will also appoint professionals to design their uniforms.
About 60 per cent of road accident deaths happen on national and state highways.
“Basically, we will be pooling in multi-skilled police officers, who, apart from driving their vehicles, will proactively enforce traffic regulations, analyse highway accidents and provide relevant inputs, engage in social education of villagers along highways and also know basic emergency care. A major emphasis of the force will be on behaviourial training so that they are friendly, but strict,” Anil Agrawal, ADG-Traffic, UP, told BusinessLine . The project will be rolled out in calendar 2015, he said.
The Uttar Pradesh police would be trained with the New Zealand police, said Rohatgi. And though there would be police posts at every 40 km gap on the highways, the highway police will function through a command and control mode. The World Bank would fund the capacity building of the project, with the exception of salaries. “This would involve a project cost ₹250 crore, with a 70 per cent loan by World Bank, spread over five-six years,” Rohatgi said. This is a component of Uttar Pradesh core road development project, costing ₹3,500 crore, which involves 70 per cent World Bank funding.