A traffic police officer displays the breath analysers in Patna. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, June 7: It was a wake-up call that the city traffic police could have done without had they been prompt enough. Two months after acquiring sophisticated equipment to man traffic, they found most of them useless.

Machines like speed-gun radars and breath analysers were bought a couple of months ago to nab rash and drunk motorists. A demonstration check of these at Dakbungalow roundabout on Friday revealed that most of the equipment were defunct.

According to sources, approximately Rs 11 lakh was spent on procuring these gizmos.

While the breath analysers refused to show any reading after repeated blows, the speed-gun radars turned out to be faulty, said sources.

The police have asked Kraft, a Patna-based company, to either replace the equipment with new ones or repair them immediately.

“A tender with regard to purchase of these equipment with other traffic gears such as road dividers, plastic cones, portable dividers and computers was floated early this year. Kraft supplied all these at a cost of around Rs 11 lakh. The equipment were delivered to the police two months ago but the formalities got over sometime back. The cops were planning to use the breath analysers and speed gun radars from this month. But now a delay is inevitable,” a senior police officer told The Telegraph.

“A person under the influence of liquor was asked to blow into the breath analysers but the meter refused to show any reading. We checked it several times but the machine did not work. The speed radars need to be equipped with a video camera to record the picture of the vehicle. The machine is working fine but there is no camera in it. Under such circumstances, the motorist concerned can always challenge the police in the court. Hence, this system will not work unless the radar is equipped with an in-built camera,” the officer said.

“There are two breath analysers and a speed-gun radar. Eleven more radars would arrive shortly. The company has said a radar with an in-built camera will replace the existing one. Regarding the breath analysers, the company representatives said the software has to be checked and serviced every six months. The machines were lying idle for two months now. They have been brought from the US and we think the service is pending. The company has assured us of rectifying them,” the officer added.

Another officer said: “It might take more than a month as the company has to replace the radars with improved ones and the breath analysers also have to be taken care of.”