Bhubaneswar: The state unit of Congress party Tuesday threatened to launch protests if the state government does not accept the demand of the party to reduce the hefty fines imposed by the government under the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act.
Congress leader and Jatni MLA Suresh Routray told the reporters here that the government should consider reducing the fine to avoid the agitation of the party which has planned to gherao the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) and the Income Tax offices in the state to mark their protests.
The party has given the ultimatum for 10 days for the state to act. The party also raised objections to the alleged misbehaviour of the traffic police with the citizens especially the women commuters.
“We are not going to tolerate the Hitler rule in the state. We are against the harassment meted out to the women commuters in the state. The Congress party is in no mood to tolerate such kind of unjustified behaviour. Several states ruled by BJP and Maharashtra have reduced the fines mandated under the new MV Act,” Routray said.
He also added, “We want the fines under the rule are reduced within 10 days; otherwise our party will gherao the offices of the RTO in the state and the Income Tax offices of the central government.”
The Congress leader said that in several cases women going to school with their kids were subjected to fines of more than Rs 15,000. “Could such acts be justified? People going for exams are also harassed in the name of implementation of the new law,” he said.
State Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera said that he has asked officials to be polite with the erring commuters. “We have instructed the officials concerned on the ground to not to be rude towards the commuters. People should accept the law and abide by the norms of the new law. It has been crafted specially for the safety of the people on the road. All the RTOs have been instructed not to use foul language against the commuters during inspection of vehicles and papers,” Behera said.