BENGALURU: On day one of the ban on two-wheelers, three-wheelers and agricultural vehicles on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway, police booked 137 cases and collected Rs 68,500 in fines from violators.
Police and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) personnel also manned entry points of the highway and directed restricted vehicles onto the service road. Boards were put up about the ban at the entry points and toll gates on the e-way that was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 12.
NHAI had put out a gazette notification, dated July 12, stating that six types of vehicles -- motorcycles, including scooters and other two-wheelers, three-wheelers, including e-carts and e-rickshaws, non-motorised vehicles, tractors with or without trailers, multi-axle hydraulic trailer vehicles and quadricycles will be barred from the expressway from August 1.
Unaware of the restriction, many two-wheeler riders tried to enter the e-way that starts on the outskirts of the city after the NICE Road Junction near the Panchamukhi Ganesha temple. They were stopped by the police and NHAI personnel and asked to take the service road.
“As the ban comes into force from Tuesday, many restricted vehicle users, especially two-wheeler riders, were not aware of it. We informed them about the ban and diverted them from the main carriage,” said an NHAI personnel.
Two-wheelers riders and drivers of goods autos vented their ire over the restriction and questioned the police about how will the ban curb the number of accidents on the e-way.
“They are asking two-wheelers and other vehicles to use the service road. But where is the service road? The e-way has elevated sections over railway tracks at places like Channapatna. They should have given an uninterrupted service road running parallel to the main carriage of the e-way,” said Prakash, a biker who commutes regularly on the route. The police said a fine of Rs 500 is being imposed on restricted vehicles that enter the e-way.