Despite issuance of notices to the various district officers for using blue or red beacon in their vehicles without being eligible for it by the Regional Transport Office, Dehradun, the administrative officers in Dehradun who are ineligible to use the beacons have continued using these. While the Transport officers avoided taking any action against the ineligible beacon users, the Dehradun District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam has written a letter to the Uttarakhand Transport Commissioner requesting him to allow administrative officers from the rank of sub divisional magistrate to the DM to use the beacons as even Tehsildars use beacons atop their official vehicles in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. ADM (administration) HS Rawat who has not removed blue beacon from his official vehicle said that transport officials should impose challan on officials who violate the law. The administrative officers are deployed at various places on emergency call and are also responsible for maintaining law and order in the district. On this ground, the administrative officers should be allowed to use blue beacons so that they can perform their duty effectively.
Use of blue beacon in the vehicle of administrative officers from Tehsildar to DM was permissible in undivided Uttar Pradesh. According to him, in Uttarakhand, police officers are allowed to using blue beacon but administrative officers are not allowed this. He expressed hope that the DM’s letter to Transport Commissioner will elicit positive action. Recently, Dehradun Regional Transport officials said that they avoid penalising administrative officers because they are senior to them. The transport officers have also sent a letter to the DM seeking stop on unauthorised use of beacons by officials.