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A plainclothes policeman removes the tinted screen of a car window as part of a drive against offenders while an officer (below) prepares a challan at Sakchi on Saturday. (Bhola Prasad)
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Jamshedpur, Sept. 29: The East Singhbhum district administration today cracked down on the use of pressure horns in vehicles at two commercial centres of the city, waking up to the alarming illegality that can, in some cases, lead to hearing impairment.
A team comprising district transport officer (DTO) George Kumar, motor vehicle inspector (MVI) Awdesh Kumar and deputy superintendent of police (DSP) traffic Rakesh Mohan Sinha began a random check at Sakchi and Bistupur square this afternoon, during which they also penalised cars with windows using tinted film beyond permissible norms.
The first drive was carried out around 2pm at Sakchi Square near the traffic outpost and continued for nearly one hour. The next phase was started at Bistupur square near Gopal Maidan from 3.40pm to 5pm.
Today, 10 four-wheelers were caught for using black (tinted) films at Sakchi and two bikers for using pressure horns.
At Bistupur, eight four-wheelers were penalised for using black films on their car windows. The authorities also stripped tinted films off windows of other cars at the spot.
The first-time offenders of both violations were fined Rs 1,000. The fine would be doubled (Rs 2,000) in case of a second offence.
Sinha told The Telegraph they had received strict directions from East Singhbhum senior superintendent of police (SSP) Akhilesh Jha to launch the drive today as promised earlier.
“Initially this morning, I discussed with the DTO to postpone the crackdown till Monday due to Governor Syed Ahmed’s visit to the city tomorrow. As it is, most police personnel had to be deputed for manning the roads and we had to chalk out their deployment plan for the VVIP’s visit. However, we were asked to start the drive today itself in order to instil a sense of fear among commuters regarding violation of traffic rules,” he added.
The crackdown focused on use of pressure horns in four-wheelers as well as two-wheelers and cars with the dark film on windows.
Sinha pointed out that as per Supreme Court guidelines, issued in May, visual light transmission, or VLT, should be at least 70 per cent for front and rear screens and 50 per cent for the side windows.
In a report published on Thursday, The Telegraph highlighted the rampant violation of Supreme Court and Motor Vehicles Act (1988) orders by most cars and bikes on Jamshedpur roads where indiscriminate honking had become the norm.
Acting on the report, Keep honking, it’s banned only on paper, the administration, issued a directive through the media that they would start a crackdown on the twin violations of traffic norms from today.
DTO George Kumar said the drive would continue till Dussehra.
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