A person removes black film from his car in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, July 3: The ongoing crackdown on the use of dark films and tinted glasses on four-wheelers has yielded positive results in Cuttack.

Many people are voluntarily removing black films from windscreens of their cars following the enforcement drive that was launched by police on Monday.

“The traffic officials have launched a special drive in the twin cities against tinted glasses and dark films on windscreen for the past couple of days. It is better to remove the black films on our own rather to pay a fine of Rs 500,” said Ananta Jena, 31, a resident of Alisha Bazar.

Similarly, many taxi drivers, who ferry tourists from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar and Puri, have also decided to follow the restriction clamped on the use of dark films on four-wheelers.

“There have been several instances of crime in moving cars and we welcome the cops’ initiative for the safety of people, especially girls,” said Sudhansu Sahu, a taxi driver.

The police have decided to act tough on the use of tinted glass, which restricts vision beyond a permissible limit, as fixed under the Motor Vehicles Act, in the vehicles following a Supreme Court order.

“As per the Supreme Court order, the traffic management committee had decided to create awareness and launch the drive against the use of tinted glasses and dark films on four-wheelers in the city,” said deputy commissioner of police S. Praveen Kumar.

Kumar said a letter was also issued to various taxi associations not to use black films and an awareness drive had been launched for a month in this regard.

Official sources said that earlier, nearly 70 vehicles were detected for such violation and a compounding fee was also collected during the drive that was launched in March.

According to the provisions of Section 100 (2) of the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1989, use of dark, black and reflective glasses on vehicles is not permissible.

Moreover, on April 27, the Supreme Court, in an order, had imposed restriction on the use of black film of any visual light transmission (VLT) percentage or any other material upon safety glasses, windscreens and side glasses of all four-wheelers.

The rule allows the vehicle owner to use glasses with VLT specification of minimum 70 per cent for front and rear windscreen and 50 per cent for side windows. A fine of Rs 100 is being collected from the violators and an official said a fine ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 would be collected in subsequent periods.