Picture used for representational purpose

KOLKATA: Arvind Agarwal (name changed), a marketing executive with an MNC, remembers to have abused cops on the road. What followed were frantic calls to acquaintances to prevent seizure of his driving licence after he was caught by the cops for drink driving in Lake Town in June.

Sanjib Chowdhury (name changed), a techie, wrote a long post on social media alleging cops were wrong for booking him for drink driving and seizing his licence, while other cars leaving the same restobar were allowed to go.

However, after a Sunday morning counselling session by the police on safe driving followed by a traffic maintenance training session by the officers, both Agarwal and Chowdhury are apologetic for their behaviour and is all excited to play a traffic cop for the next few weekends.

Bidhannagar Commissionerate have made a Sunday morning exercise of counselling sessions for drivers caught for drink driving into an exciting quest for a group of citizens by allowing them to play a traffic cop for 16 hours and get their driving licences back, way before the actual suspension term of three months.

“When the cops seized my licence, I was furious. Then the officers asked me if I wanted to attend a counselling session followed by16 hours of traffic duty to get it back. I attended one such session on Sunday and it was excellent. I am all geared up to hit the road from next weekend and manage traffic for the next few days,” said Agarwal, a resident of Kankurgachhi.

This Sunday was the eighth counselling session by Bidhannagar City Police. They showed PowerPoint presentations about drink driving accidents and trained them in managing traffic as well as personal safety. The session is not compulsory and it is just an option for the offenders to take part in community service and get back their seized licences quickly.

On Sunday, eight such offenders took part in the counselling session at the Airport Traffic Guard in Birati. “There is no bar on the period for completion of the service. One can work for four hours for four days, or one hour for 16 days. The trainees can choose their time and place of work and we can book the slots accordingly,” said an officer of Airport traffic guard.

