Afraid of facing wrath of top babus posted in Gandhinagar, they have to 'pardon' offenders who claim they are relatives of bureaucrats.
It might be easy for traffic cops in major cities to penalise traffic law violators, but it's a tough task to implement this traffic law in Gandhinagar.
With the intention of clearing roads of illegally-parked vehicles, Gandhinagar traffic police purchased their own towing crane and started operations on September 1. Little did they realise that it would be a hard job to haul off vehicles or fine the owners for violating norms in the state capital which is buzzing with bureaucrats.
According to traffic cops, a majority of the violators claim they are relatives of a government babu who is holding an important post in the state government. "In the last two months we have faced many problems while trying to penalize violators, as all claimed to be either a son, daughter, sister, wife, father, cousin or some other relative of a senior government official," said an enraged traffic constable.
Being the state capital, Gandhinagar has numerous government offices, including the Sachivalaya (secretariat). Traffic constables involved in the task of towing say they must be on the alert with regard to the ownership of a violating vehicle.
"We remain in tension, because if we pick up a vehicle of a top bureaucrat or any other government official, we might end up in trouble," said a traffic cop, who regularly gets into such arguments with traffic violators. "In the last week I have been asked by over 10 violators near Pathik Ashram to let them go because they are relatives of some officials," claimed the cop.
In September, Gandhinagar traffic police decided to purchase a towing van in the wake of increasing traffic related problems on the capital's roads. The crane went into service from September 1 and targeted vehicles parked on open roads near public places including Pathik Ashram, banks, the civil hospital and major roads.
The charges for towing a vehicle are double the fine for wrongful parking. Thus, if a two-wheeler is found parked wrongly, the vehicle owner will be fined Rs50 on the spot, whereas if the vehicle is towed, then the owner has to pay Rs100. The same is the case with four-wheelers, where the owner is fined Rs100 on the spot and Rs 200 if the vehicle is hauled off.
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