‘All of us are responsible’

‘All of us are responsible’
The Times of India


After PM Manmohan Singh, it was the turn of home minister M P Prakash to launch a tirade against driving on Bangalore’s roads.

Replying to Basavaraj Rayaraddi (Cong), Prakash maintained that “self control’’ by the public was the only way to police the city roads. “Now everyone can afford big cars — BMWs, Mercedes — but are our roads up to taking them?’’ he said.

Condemning the driving on the city roads as “untrained,’’ Prakash said children younger than 18 years were driving without check. “No one follows rules. About 50% of Karnataka’s vehicles are on Bangalore roads. How can the police control everything? It is up to the public to control themselves,’’ he declared.
Ramesh Kumar (Cong) said said the police and the RTO were equally to blame. “Fitness certificates are given arbitrarily. The racket goes all the way to the top,” he said.

Prakash said training programmes were on and measures like one-ways taken to reduce accidents.

“Accidents have come down in 2006. But I agree that our officials have to take strict measures. We have ended up with contributory negligence, all of us are responsible,’’ he added.