BHUBANESWAR: With the six-month breather ending on Saturday, the State Government is all set to enforce the amended Motor Vehicle Act in full throttle from Sunday. The new traffic rules will be enforced by both the transport and police officials as per provisions in the MV Act. The State Transport Authority (STA) has directed Collectors, SPs and Deputy Commissioners of Police to implement the Act strictly. The officials have been asked to check drunken driving, over-speeding, red light jumping, driving against flow of traffic, using mobile phone while driving, triple riding on two-wheeler, use of helmet and seat belt, dangerous driving and overloading.
Transport Commissioner-cum-STA Chairman Sanjeeb Panda said emphasis will be given on offences related to drunken driving while carrying out enforcement as accidents during September-December period reduced by 17 per cent and more than 10,000 drunken drivers were arrested. “Enforcing personnel have been instructed to detain maximum four vehicles at a time and ensure that minimum inconvenience is caused to the public while checking documents and other offences,” he said.
Besides allowing relief for six months in two phases since September 1 last year, the Transport department had taken several measures, including special camps to facilitate people to obtain required documents. As per statistics, 11.54 lakh learner licences (LLs) and 3.8 lakh driving licences (DLs) were issued in the last six months compared to 3.5 lakh and 2.3 lakh respectively in 2018. As many as 29.4 lakh pollution under control certificates were issued during September-February period. Several RTO offices across the State witnessed rush on Friday and Saturday as applicants made their last minute attempts to collect LLs.
Nearly 2.5 lakh applications, including over 40,000 in Bhubaneswar alone, have been pending for issuance of licence. Commerce and Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera said there will be zero tolerance towards traffic violations. “We had given enough relaxation to people to keep their documents ready and comply with the amended Act. Our aim is to make motorists follow traffic norms and ensure that road accidents are reduced,” he added.