Sambalpur: “Generating revenue by penalising traffic offenders is not our aim,” said Sambalpur SP Kanwar Vishal Singh while addressing a press conference here Sunday.
Singh clarified that they were not imposing heavy penalties under the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act which came into effect from September 1.
Briefing media persons here, Singh said the objective is to enforce the new traffic rules strictly so that citizens realise that they should abide by the rules.
“Initially, it may seem a bit harsher but once people understand, they will realise the benefits of the move,” Singh said. The SP urged the public to cooperate in the implementation of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act.
According to Singh the two main reasons for accident are: “no helmet and driving while intoxicated.” “So our main focus is to check these two things. For this we have selected eight busiest streets of the city where we are checking for helmets, drunken driving, driving licence and other vehicular records.”
A recent survey said only 70 per cent people of Sambalpur district are using helmets while the police aim to make it 100.
Singh further said that keeping in view the rising public resentment across the state over the provision of hefty fines in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, the state government relaxed implementation of the new traffic rules for three months.
But in future the MV act will be enforced strictly. Now the people are given time to make ready all their necessary documents related to their vehicles. “After three months we will check all across the city.”
He advised the people if they were facing any inconvenience during checking then they can directly complain at the nearest police station on a toll-free number.
According to sources, a truck driver, was penalised a total of Rs 86,500 including, general offence- Rs 500, allowing unauthorised person to drive vehicle- Rs 5000, driving without valid DL- Rs 5000, carrying overload in goods vehicle- Rs 56,000, and carrying over-dimension load- Rs 20,000 during a routine checking in Sambalpur September 3. It is recorded as the highest penalty amount under the new MV act in the state. Around 32 have been penalised and arrested for drunken driving in the district.
PNN