Seems to be keeping the ensuing Assembly elections in to the mind, the Gujarat government took a surprising decision to allow the traffic violators without any fines and punishment for a week on the occasion of Diwali celebrations. None other than the Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi made this announcement at Surat on Friday which received serious criticism from people from all walks of life.
Addressing a programme in Surat, he said that the traffic police will not penalized the traffic violators across the state from October 21 to 27 on the occasion of Diwali celebrations. The minister also said the police will advice the violators not to repeat the offence again. According to him, the motorists can drive their two-wheelers as per their wish like driving the vehicle without helmet, without license, triple riding, coming in wrong route and other traffic violations. At the same time the home minister also said that it is up to the discretion of the motorists to follow the traffic rules or not.
But the road safety analysts criticized the Gujarat government’s decision to encourage traffic violators for a week across the state. The decision will lead to blood bath on the roads where more number of accidents will take place.
According to the 2018 Global Status Report on Road Safety from the World Health Organization (WHO), India is responsible for over 11 percent of all fatalities worldwide resulting from traffic accidents. As per the statistics, In India, there were 3,66,138 traffic accidents in 2020 out which 1,37,714 people were died and 3,48,279 got injured.
