Spotlight on misuse of beacon lights, cops arrest one

They have always been a peeve point for ordinary citizens but the pandemic has made them useful to a section of people more than ever before

A beacon fitted on a car:Telegraph picture

Monalisa Chaudhuri   |   TT  |   Calcutta   |   01.07.21 : A young man was arrested on Tuesday night for travelling in a beacon-fitted car and claiming to be a vigilance officer, which he was not.

The light had apparently allowed him to escape pandemic curbs in the past, he has told police.

This is the second arrest in a week of someone wrongly using a beacon. The two arrests have once again turned the spotlight on the rampant misuse of beacons and how they provide an easy way to bypass pandemic curbs.

In a city where the chief minister does not use a beacon, instances of misuse of red and blue beacons are common:

• Beacon-fitted vehicles can be seen Illegally parked along thoroughfares like CR Avenue and Park Street 
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• Beacon-fitted vehicles are often spotted jumping signals. 

“It is not always possible to stop beacon-fitted cars and check the veracity of the person sitting inside. We often get rebuked or scolded if the person inside turns out to be one who is entitled to a beacon-fitted vehicle,” said a sergeant in south Calcutta. 

Beacons have always been a peeve point for ordinary citizens and even a section of the police but the pandemic has made them useful to a section of the people more than ever before.

Not just vaccine scam accused Debanjan Deb, who allegedly moved around in a beacon-fitted car, or Asiful Haque, who was allegedly caught misusing a beacon-fitted vehicle on Theatre Road on Tuesday — there are several others who use the beacon as their “legitimate weapon to move around in the city” at a time when other cars are being prosecuted for being on the road.

“I came across several beacon-fitted vehicles carrying families. Even if the car may belong to a government official, how can it be used to ferry their families? And who knows whether the beacon has been installed as an eyewash?” said a doctor who drives every day from Anandapur on EM Bypass to Alipore.

An officer in the traffic department said the Tuesday night arrest followed an instruction from Lalbazar to clear up the illegally encroached “no-parking zones” before the volume of traffic increases from July 1.

“The vehicle with a blue beacon was parked on Theatre Road last night. On inquiry, the occupant was found to be masquerading as a government official,” said an officer of the traffic department.

Not a privilege

A Supreme Court order states that “men in uniform, operational agencies which require unhindered access to roads for performance of their duty, those engaged in emergency duties… Emergency maintenance etc… and police vehicles used as…pilots or for law and order duties” will be entitled to lights other than red.

A Calcutta police officer said: “The rule clearly mentions that beacons can be used only for official purpose in the presence of the official concerned. Else, the beacon should be wrapped in a black cover.” 

No vehicle with or without a beacon is eligible to jump signal or be parked in a no-parking zone unless it is an ambulance with a patient, a fire tender on call or a police vehicle in an emergency operation. 

Who’s eligible?

The list of officials entitled to a beacon is long. “It is long because officials from the central government or other state governments who are of the rank equivalent to those mentioned in the list of eligibility for beacons in Bengal will be entitled to use the light during their visits to the state,” an officer said.

Red beacon with flasher: A state transport department notification on June 19, 2014, and its amendment notified by the state on February 9, 2016, state that the governor, chief minister, chief justice of high court, Assembly speaker, cabinet ministers of the state, advocate-general, leader of the Opposition and judges of the high court are eligible to use the red beacon and flasher. 

An officer said there had been an amendment to the list by the Centre in 2017. But in the absence of a notification by the state on the amendment, city police are sticking to the 2014 notification and the 2016 amendment.

Red beacon minus flasher: The state transport department notification states that the ministers of state, deputy speaker, mayor of Calcutta and the state chief secretary can use the red beacon without the flasher.

Blue beacon with flasher: On the list are the additional solicitor general, state election commissioner and the chairpersons of the state administrative tribunal, state minorities commission, commission for backward classes and the state public service commission.

Blue beacon minus flasher: On the list are 18 more categories of government officials like secretaries to the government of Bengal, heads of police agencies, directorates, commissionerates, district magistrates, SPs or officers of equivalent ranks. 

Ministerspeak: Transport minister Firhad Hakim on Wednesday instructed senior officials to pull out the list of entitled users of blue beacon and check whether the number had gone up. Officials said they would collect information on all officials using beacons.