BENGALURU: Come May 1 and many ‘VIPs’ will have to give up one of their most visible status symbols — the glowing red beacon.
Till now rules permitted only five categories of dignitaries to use red beacons in Karnataka — Governor, chief minister and ministers, chairperson of the Legislative Council, speaker of the Assembly, Chief Justice and judges of the High Court.
But hundreds of vehicles, including those of bureaucrats, legislators, university vice-chancellors, district judges, mayors, corporators and even panchayat presidents and religious leaders have been sporting beacons without authorisation.
Unsuspecting police personnel, unaware of the authority of the occupant to do so, too often place traffic on standby even in congested roads to allow red beacon vehicles to have an easy passage.
A senior traffic police official told Express that they have not booked any red beacon violation case so far. There is also no option in the BlackBerry or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices given to the police to book such cases, he said.
“Many bureaucrats and politicians consider beacons as a status symbol,” says M N Venugopal, president, State Government Drivers’ Association. He said they will have to remove red beacons from their vehicles by May 1 and “we want the state government to enforce the blanket ban on red beacons”.
Express found that several shops in places like JC Road and Shivajinagar sell beacons to anyone willing to pay. “The price of a red beacon varies from `750 to `1500. There are enough stocks here. I can also provide bar beacon which is above `15,000,” said a vendor on J C Road. It is also easily available on several e-commerce sites.