Govt dillydallies on helmet rule

Govt dillydallies on helmet rule
Deccan Herald

Cash-strapped at the end of the month yet forced to shop for helmets?

Breathe easy. It may be some time before the State Government enforces the helmet rule.

Sources in the Home Department said on Saturday that two-wheeler riders in the City would given a new deadline after a meeting between Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Home Department officials on Monday. “The idea is not to question the High Court directive.

The Government wants to give people more time to purchase helmets,” an official said. All through the day, however, it looked as though the helmet rule would come into effect from August 1.

Confusing signals

It was only late in the evening that the Home Department hinted at a possible change in the deadline. Earlier in the day, Principal Secretary to the Transport Department, Thangaraj, had said that the rule — that makes helmets mandatory for two-wheeler riders and pillion riders in Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) areas and Corporation limits in Belgaum, Gulbarga, Hubli-Dharwad, Mangalore and Mysore — would come into force as planned. Mr Thangaraj was addressing a gathering at the National Seminar on “Road Traffic Injury Prevention in India”, organised by NIMHANS.

Earlier, Bangalore City Police Commissioner N Achutha Rao, too, asserted that the police had not received any communication from the government on the extension of the deadline.

A fine of Rs 100 would be collected from two-wheeler riders and pillion riders caught riding without helmets, the Commissioner said after inaugurating the revamped Cubbon Park Police Station.