It may have been a couple of decades since Chief Minister Raman Singh rode a two-wheeler.
The Chief Minister was on Friday seen riding a scooter wearing a helmet in order to prove that he is seriously concerned about the life of every single two-wheeler rider on the road in the State.Singh rode the scooter wearing a helmet heading a rally, followed by Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Aman Singh and Raipur Superintendent of Police O P Pal, besides other senior officials, and completed about 24 km journey within the city amid tight security.
As per the schedule, Singh left from CM House at 11 am on a Honda Aviator scooter and passed through Shankar Nagar Chowk, Gandhi Chowk, Ghadi Chowk, Shastry Chowk and reached at Jaistambh Chowk.Here, Singh talked to some bikers and asked them to wear helmet while riding a two-wheeler.Singh then diverted the rally towards the National Highway via Telibandha. The rally then went through Agriculture College before concluding at the CM House.
The activity was aimed at urging the two-wheeler riders to wear a helmet willingly to safeguard their precious life.Reports say that, in about 70 per cent of the cases of fatalities involving two-wheeler riders, the riders were found not to be wearing a helmet. In such cases, the riders died because of serious head injuries. Experts say that the victims could have been saved, if they were wearing helmet.
“life is precious. It’s sad and unfortunate of losing people including the youths in road accidents especially due to their not wearing helmet,” the Chief Minister said, adding that the lives of about 90 per cent two-wheeler riders, who die in road accidents every year, can be saved, if they wear helmet.Singh justified the government’s decision of making helmet compulsory as it shows the State government’s determination to bring down the mortality rate.
The Chief Minister also made an emotional request to the women, that they should extract a promise from their brothers on this ‘Raksha Bandhan’that they would wear helmet.Today’s activity seemed to produce some results as many people were seen making a beeline to the roadside helmet vendors but the irony was that most of them were purchasing ‘duplicate’ helmets.“I am buying the helmet only to avoid legal action and penalty on not wearing it while riding my two-wheeler. So it’s not worth putting extra money in buying ISI mark or any recognized company’s helmet,” said an engineering student.
This reporter talked to as many as 10 people, who were buying helmets, and most of them preferred buying ‘duplicate’ helmets to just ‘follow’ the traffic rules. “People do not understand the main purpose of saving their life behind making the helmet compulsory and have just taken it as an order to be followed,” said Anirudha Hardiya, an accountant.
Traffic DSP, Rajkumar Minj talked of taking action on receiving any complaint of selling ‘duplicate’ helmet instead of taking cognizance of it.“We will take action on receiving any complaint of selling ‘duplicate’ helmets. We are taking meeting with the school principals, NGOs and others to urge them to only wear helmet of ISI mark” said Minj.Notably, the State government has given relaxation in its order of making helmet compulsory for women, children and Sikh (who wear turban).
The rest were asked to buy and start wearing helmets by this weekend as the traffic police has decided to start slapping penalty of Rs200 from Monday.
As many organizations have requested the traffic police, chances are there of giving more time to the people for buying helmet. Besides, the shortage of ISI mark helmets in the city can also make the authorities concerned to extend the date of implanting the order strictly. Minj accepted that there is a shortage of ISI mark helmet in the city but he avoided giving a figure.
However, there is hardly any big difference in the rate of ISI mark and ‘duplicate’ helmets being sold in the city.The price of ISI mark helmets start from Rs600 while a ‘duplicate’ helmet is available with a starting price of Rs450.