Gujarat: New fines likely to be announced today, no leniency for the helmetless

The Gujarat government is likely to announce the enhanced fines under the new Motor Vehicles Act on Tuesday.  The government’s decision is likely to be announced after the transport and police department of the state submitted its report in this connection. A notification regarding the same is also likely to come in a day or two.

The new Act calls for steep fines for violation of traffic norms.

Chief minister Vijay Rupani had earlier talking to the media said that he had asked both the department to suggest new rates of fine as the Centre’s norms for fines are the maximum that can be charged from an offender.

Sources in the know said the state is likely to give some relief for violators who are found without documents like PUC, registration papers but is not likely to be lenient on violation of helmet and seat belt rules among others. 

Even if the state were to announce the fines that it planned to collect under the new Act, the implementation could take another 10 days. Even before the Act came into being, the traffic police in the city and state had begun cracking down on traffic violators. In 2018, Amdavadis paid Rs 6.64 cr as fine for not wearing helmets. The department collected R 3.21 cr for the offence till April this year.