In a bid to promote road safety rules and their compliance, the Commissionerate police on Sunday conducted a novel sensitisation campaign by distributing chocolates and ‘thank you’ cards to traffic rule followers at AG Square here.
“We extend our thanks to the denizens of Bhubaneswar for their support and cooperation. Most people are adhering to traffic rules now,” said Traffic DCP Sagarika Nath.
“As directed by the Commissioner of Police, we are prioritising only five aspects during checking. Drunken driving, use of mobile phones during driving, wrong side driving, triple riding and non-usage of helmets and seat belts are in our focus,” she said.
But while gifts were distributed to the traffic rule followers, those who violated the rules were slapped penalties at the same venue.
Notably, chaos had prevailed at the Rajmahal Square on Saturday when hundreds of locals and commuters gheraoed the on-duty police personnel in protest against the huge amount of penalties being slapped on vehicle owners and drivers for violation of traffic rules.
The mob alleged that the authorities were not checking documents of Government vehicles and VIPS and their drivers were not being penalised for violations.
Police had to resort to a lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.