Issue of traffic congestion in Patna raised in council

PATNA: State energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said in the legislative council on Thursday that Rs 1.32 lakh was collected as fine from traffic rule violators in Patna through e-challan from January to June this year. The minister said Rs 1.11 crore was collected through other means from those violating traffic norms in the state capital.
Yadav was replying to a starred question raised by Congress MLC Madan Mohan Jha, who had sought to know the steps taken by the state government to curb traffic menace in the state capital.
“Though CCTV cameras have been installed at important roundabouts to keep an eye traffic rule violators, the results are not visible,” Jha said.
The minister, on his part, said the city has been divided into 39 sectors for monitoring vehicular movement and each sector is being looked after by a senior officer. “Increasing population and rise in number of vehicles are primary responsible for traffic problem in the city,” the minister added.
Congress MLC Prem Chandra Mishra said traffic cops at most places in the city are not properly trained. “Except Dak Bungalow crossing, one can see cops sitting under shade and not regulating traffic. Kids returning from schools remain stranded on roads for hours due to traffic snarls,” Mishra said.
RJD MLC Ram Chandra Purbey raised a short notice question regarding purchase of 33,914 smartphones by social welfare department for distribution among anganwadi centres. Purbey said Rs 6.78 crore was already paid for purchase of the smartphones.
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said cellphones were purchased through government e-marketplace (GeM) portal, where rates are given and name of the agency is revealed only after the payment. “The cellphones were purchased with utmost transparency,” he said.