After a relaxation of three months in enforcement of the norms of the amended Motor Vehicles Act, the State Government would strictly enforce the rules from December 1.
Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera on Friday said, “We are going to strictly enforce the MV Act from December 1, 2019.”
“It is the responsibility of the State Government to ensure safety of commuters as well as enforce traffic rules in the larger interests of the people,” Behera added.
The Minister said revised fines would be collected as per the provisions of the amended Act. The fines collected in the first phase of enforcement drive would remain unchanged, he said.
He said that the State Government had relaxed collection of hefty fines as many people did not possess necessary documents including Driving License and Pollution under Control (PUC) certificates.
It might be mentioned here that the State Government had to relax the enforcement of the norms under the amended Motor Vehicles Act for three months following a faceoff between locals and police during an enforcement drive at Rajmahal Square in the city in September.
But while the Transport Department is gearing up to enforce the rules stringently, many people are yet to obtain the necessary documents. They alleged that due to staff shortages at the RTOs, still many motorists are queuing up at and still doing rounds of the offices to get Driving Licence (DL) and Learner Licence.
Besides, there was delay in setting up the RTO camps at many places. They requested the Government to consider this.
Notably, while replying to a question in the State Assembly on Thursday, the Transport Minister had informed that over Rs 1 crore was been collected as fine from traffic rule violators after implementation of the new MV Act on September 1.
A highest penalty amount of Rs 46, 00,850 was collected from 5,317 persons for driving vehicles without valid driving licences.