The traffic policemen in Patna have finally admitted that the only speed gun in their artillery is firing blank.

The equipment — used to check if a vehicle is speeding and record its details — was acquired by the police in April last year. It was pressed into service in December. But after using it for four months, police are planning to issue a showcause notice to the company that had supplied the speed gun.

Incidentally, the speed gun was used only twice in the past year.

Explaining the reason for this “unfortunate” development, a senior traffic police officer told The Telegraph on Wednesday: “The speed gun cannot be used. It had various problems since we acquired it. It was used for training purposes for a day or two.

“The gadget does not have an in-built camera and cannot record the picture of the vehicle. What is the use of just recording the speed of a vehicle without taking its picture? If there is no picture of the registration plate, how are the cops going to fine the particular vehicle owner? As a result of this, the gadget has been packed up again. It is not being used.”

Earlier, former Patna senior superintendent of police Alok Kumar, who is now posted as the deputy inspector-general of Saran, had vehemently denied that the speed gun was defective. Instead, he had claimed that the equipment was being used regularly in various parts of the city. The policemen had also furnished the number of speeding vehicles caught with the help of the speed gun.

“At present, the police are finding out the details of the company that provided the equipment. They are contemplating to issue them a notice. The police need to know why the equipment was ordered and whether its shortcomings were known or not? The company will be asked in what circumstances the equipment, which is very expensive, was supplied and whether they knew that the machine didn’t have a camera to take pictures of the vehicles? The matter will be investigated. Right now the opinions of senior police officers are being sought in the connection. If the company is at fault, the police will lodge an FIR against it,” the senior police officer said.

He added that they also had the option of getting upgraded machine in exchange for this one from the Chennai-based supplier of the equipment.

“Though the price of the upgraded equipment is not known, a replacement will be sought. It is not possible to manually take down the number of a speeding vehicle while this speed gun just records its speed. With no cameras, it is also useless in the after-dark hours,” the police officer said.

The Telegraph had reported in its March 28, 2012, edition that the lone speed gun in the possession of traffic police failed to function after dark. Sources earlier told The Telegraph that the equipment along with two breath analysers and other traffic tools were bought after a tender process in April last year at a total cost of Rs 11 lakh. For some undisclosed reason, they were not used till December last year.

Asked about the dysfunctional instruments, traffic superintendent of police Chandrika Prasad said the matter was being investigated.

The speed gun is not the only failed project of the police. Defunct traffic signals, unused breath analysers and a plethora of other such schemes that have been stuck in the pipelines are a cause of major concern.

The persons suffering for this are you and I. According to sources, the state capital had witnessed 52 road accidents during January and February, in which 25 people died.

In 2011, 132 people died in road accidents.