B''lore police bags gold award for B-trac project

Bangalore, Feb 7 (PTI) Bangalore city police has baggedthe gold award for innovative use of technology ine-governance in the implementation of B-trac project, a toppolice official said today.

Announcing the award, which is given out by the unionAdministrative Reforms and Public Grievances department, CityPolice Commissioner Shankar Bidari said, "It is for the firsttime that a police force in the country has been awarded theGold award for innovative use of technology for e-governance".

B-trac has been implemented in Bangalore city during theyears 2008-2010 with about Rs 120 crore financial support fromthe Karnataka government.

Bidari said that with the implementation of B-tracscheme, "Bangalore city has earned the distinction of beingthe most modern technology-driven traffic management system inthe country". It has also earned the distincion of being thefirst city in the country where "traffic enforcement is 100per cent technology-driven and paperless", he added.

By proper implementation of the B-trac project, excellentresults have been achieved in traffic enforcement, trafficregulation and prevention of accidents, Bidari said.

Due to the addition of South-East division to Bangalorecity in September 2007 and North-East division in May 2008,the area of the city has increased by 600 sq kms to 1,200 sqkms, he said.

During the past two years, the carriage way was takenaway as a result of large scale developmental works such asmetro, fly-overs, underpasses and over bridges. Inspite ofthese factors, the Bangalore city police have achievedunprecedented success in traffic enforcement by implementingthe B-trac project, Bidari said.

The Commissioner said that despite the increase in thesize of the city and the amount of vehicles on the road --four million and counting, second only to New Delhi -- therehas been a decrease in the number accidents and the number ofdeaths and injuries due to accidents.

The 6,483 road accidents recorded in 2010 was lower thanthe one recorded in 2007, when it was 8,426, he said. Therehas has also been a decrease in the number of deaths due totraffic accidents -- 858 in 2010 as compared to 981 in 2007.

He added the number of persons injured in traffic accidentshas also come down from 6,591 in 2007 to 5,343 in 2010.

Bidari lauded the hard work put in by officers and menworking in traffic branch in the past two and a half years.

"On account of their sustained efforts, Bangalore city now hasthe distinction of a minimum number of accidents per one lakhpopulation or per sq.km area", he said.

The award will be presented to city police at Aurangabadon Feb 10, 2011 by the union government.