Mamata Banerjee

Calcutta, Nov. 2: A government Ambassador came perilously close to the chief minister’s car and gave security personnel who tail her because she wouldn’t accept a pilot the scare of their lives near the All India Radio office in Calcutta last evening.

Mamata Banerjee was on her way to inaugurate a surveillance system at Lalbazar when the white Ambassador that took the roundabout at the Red Road-Mayo Road intersection narrowly missed hitting the Hyundai i10 in which the chief minister was travelling around 4.30pm.

Mamata’s car screeched to a halt as the Ambassador sped off. After the chief minister called up a senior police officer, the Ambassador was intercepted 100 metres away and its driver was charged with dangerous driving.

The Ambassador (WB02 J7565) is registered in the name of Calcutta Telephones and assigned to the company’s chief architect whose family was in the car when the incident happened.

Driver Abbas Ali Laskar, a resident of Bonhooghly in South 24-Parganas, was fined Rs 400 and allowed to go.

A section of police officers said the incident was an eye-opener on how vulnerable Mamata’s convoy was even in Calcutta.

“The chief minister does not like to use a pilot car. A pilot car with a flashing beacon leads a VIP’s convoy. It not only ensures a safe passage for the rest of the cars in the convoy but also alerts other vehicles that a VIP entourage is passing by. Otherwise, it is difficult for the common motorist to differentiate a VIP convoy from regular cars,” a senior officer of the traffic department said.

According to the bluebook that defines the nature and extent of security a VIP should get, a Z-plus protectee like Mamata must have a pilot car, two escort vehicles, one spare car and a tail vehicle.

As Mamata does not use a pilot car, her vehicle leads the convoy. She sits in the front seat of her car, which does not have a beacon. Yesterday, four cars carrying the chief minister’s security personnel were following her.

A shadow pilot car, a vehicle that is further away from Mamata’s car than a pilot car should be, is used sometimes when the chief minister travels in the city, sources in Calcutta police’s special branch said.

“A shadow pilot car was present yesterday too but it was so far away that it could not do anything to avoid the situation,” an officer said.

During a trip to Jhargram on October 15, Mamata’s pilot car-less convoy had missed a right turn in the Lodhasuli forest and travelled on a wrong road for around 20 minutes.