Kolkata, Aug 22 (IANS): In an effort to stop alleged illegal activities of police personnel on night duty, Kolkata Police has decided to monitor the activities of patrol vans and personnel on night duty from the central control room of Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police headquarters.

"We have received several complaints that the police personnel on night duty accept bribes from vehicles moving at night. They accept bribes on the open streets from trucks or matadors carrying goods. This is not only negligence of duty but this increases the possibility of entry of illegal things like arms and drugs into the city," a senior Kolkata Police officer said.

Through the idea, considered to be a brainchild of Kolkata Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra, the city police have thus decided to curb these kinds of happenings. In a recent directive, police personnel on night duty have been asked to station themselves only at junctions and points where CCTVs have been installed so that their entire activities can be monitored from the control room.

"We have developed a separate control room for the purpose where senior officers will be on duty all through the night. They will keep a close watch on the activities of the police personnel on the road. If there is any development, they will directly instruct them from the control room. This will not only help in monitoring the police personnel on duty but at the same time help to stay updated," the officer added.

The officer said that the project will be presently piloted in some areas of the city adjacent to Lalbazar which is in central Kolkata. It will be will be supervised by two senior officers - the Joint Commissioner (Headquarters) and the Joint Commissioner (Traffic).

"There are some recent incidents where there was a delay in reaching the spot by the police and that increased the problem. This will also help in the personnel reaching the spot without any delay allowing more time to police to control the situation," the officer added.