Don’t Treat Citizens as Enemies by Imposing Hefty Penalty for Traffic Violations – Khader
Mangaluru: The Union government and the state government have jointly implemented the new fines under the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act 2019. Due to the hefty penalty, people are facing problems. We want the people to be disciplined but not by imposing hefty fines on them. The government should postpone the rules for the new fines for six months and should bring awareness among the people about the pros and cons of violating the traffic rules. This is not America or UAE to impose hefty fines. One Dollar is equal to Rs 72 if possible let the government reduce the value of the dollar against the Rupee”, said the former minister U T Khader in a press meet held at the Circuit House here on September 10.
Addressing the medipersons U T Khader said, “The Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019 has 63 provisions. According to the new law, the penalty for unauthorized use of vehicles without a license was Rs 1000 which has now been increased to Rs 5,000. If anyone drives without a license, the penalty now is Rs 5000 which earlier was Rs 500. Imprisonment up to 6 months for drink and drive including a fine up to Rs 10,000 for the first offense and Rs 15000 for the second offense with imprisonment up to 2 years. For underage drivers/riders, the penalty is Rs 25000 and imprisonment up to 3 years with the cancellation of registration of the motor vehicle for 12 months. The government is now treating the citizens as enemies by implementing new traffic laws.”
U T Khader further said, “Prime Minister and Home minister are only giving statements on TV channels and newspapers, they have visited the USA and other countries and have understood about the traffic penalties there. Imposing the same penalty as in the US does not make sense. The PM should remember that one dollar is equal to Rs 72 and not follow foreign policies in the implementation of traffic rules. When the penalty was Rs 100, the police department was not interested to impose fine as they are doing it now even though their job was the same. Now the traffic police have become very active and are checking every vehicle. Why the police so keen to check every vehicle now? This leads to corruption and also encourage the youth to commit crime in order to pay the fines. Instead of imposing heavy fines all of a sudden, let the government postpone these harsh rules for six months”.
U T Khader also said, “In Goa, the CM has said that until basic infrastructure is made available for the public for safe, secure and smooth driving, the new motor vehicle amendment act will not be implemented. Why then is our state government silent? If it is possible in Goa, why not in Karnataka? The government should think of the welfare of the state”.
