The touted road interceptors — two vehicles mounted with hi-tech speed guns that were rolled out earlier this month to rein in rogue drivers — are gathering dust apparently in the absence of trained personnel to man them.

A traffic constable in the city said the fleet was yet to detect a single case of reckless driving or safety violation.

“The vehicles are like expensive ornaments you rarely use. One is mostly on trial run on Kanke Road (a VIP stretch) and the other idles outside the traffic control room. The whole purpose of curbing road accidents is defeated,” he said.

Sub-inspector Ashok Kumar, posted at the control room, conceded that one of the interceptor vans was stationed there for at least 10 days now. “Two days after it was rolled out, it was brought here. It has never been used since,” he said.

DSP (control room) Rajendra Prasad blamed dearth of trained personnel for the two-vehicle fleet remaining idle. “The department does not have people skilled enough to operate the equipment in the vehicles. Thorough training of personnel will be required before the Interceptors can be deployed,” he admitted.

Traffic SP Sanjay Ranjan Singh, who had flagged off the vehicles on September 13, indicated that he was far too busy to facilitate any training at least this month.

“We have just finished the Prime Minister’s programme (Narendra Modi was in town last Sunday). Now, the vice-president (M. Venkaiah Naidu) is expected on Thursday (September 27). This matter will be considered and initiative will be taken for proper utilisation of the vehicles once we are a tad free,” Singh said.

The Ranchi traffic department had requisitioned four interceptor vans in April last year. Two were sanctioned, each at a cost of Rs 28 lakh.

These mobile traffic control units are not just equipped with acceleration monitors and breath analysers, the lightweight speed guns are designed to capture any rogue vehicle in a radius of 300 metres within a fraction of a second using laser beams. The device has a wide-angle view, which means more than one speeding vehicle can be tracked and fined at a time.

In-built Internet allows the vehicles to connect with servers of both the transport department and traffic police. The moment a speed gun reads the registration number of a car, details are transmitted through the server. A challan is generated instantly and in case the offender’s mobile number is registered, an SMS alert is also sent.