A STAFF REPORTER
A senior IPS officer allegedly slapped an autorickshaw driver in Sealdah for violating rules, prompting fellow drivers to block a busy road and gherao the officer for close to an hour on Monday morning.
K. Harirajan, the additional commissioner of police (I) in charge of traffic, however, denied the charge.
“I was on the road checking whether vehicles were abiding by traffic rules. The auto driver was booked for driving recklessly. That was reason enough for other drivers to set up a blockade,” he said.
The mob dispersed after the deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Dilip Banerjee, arrived at the spot. The auto drivers claimed that they had “let Harirajan go only after he apologised with folded hands”.
Shyam Rai, the driver who was allegedly slapped, had stopped his vehicle at the BR Singh Hospital crossing after the signal turned red.
“The vehicle had crossed the stop-line. While he was collecting fares from the passengers who were getting off the auto, a traffic constable approached Rai and fined him,” said Sanjay Sarkar, the leader of the Citu-controlled auto drivers’ union.
“Rai pleaded with the cop that he had crossed the stop-line accidentally but Harirajan, who was standing nearby, slapped him. The officer also beat up a few other auto drivers after they protested the assault. He even pushed some of us into a police jeep,” Sarkar added.
As news of the “assault” spread, more than 2,000 auto drivers squatted on Beleghata Main Road near Sealdah station, disrupting traffic in several parts of central Calcutta.
Vehicular movement was hit on APC Road, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Lenin Sarani and CIT Road.
“The blockade continued for around 45 minutes and was lifted only after the additional commissioner apologised to Rai with folded hands,” claimed Viswadeep Kantha, the assistant secretary of the union.
In the evening, the additional commissioner asserted that the drive against rogue auto drivers would continue.
“Auto drivers rampantly violate traffic norms, including the stipulation on the number of passengers each vehicle is allowed to ferry. The auto that was booked today did not even have a registration number plate. The number is written in small digits with a pen. Our drive against errant autos will continue,” Harirajan said at Lalbazar.
Indiscipline has been nurtured to such an extent in Bengal by the CPM that now when it wants to enforce discipline it fails miserably.
Bus workers, auto drivers, eatery shops, police, hospitals etc.
You name the place, it has been unionised and indisciplined.
How can Bengal develop?
An there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
The alternative - Mamata Banerjee - is even worse.
She cannot even control her own brothers so how can she control Bengal.
Bengal I pity you.
There is no hope for you for another 30 years.
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