Helmet rule to stay

Helmet rule to stay
The Hindu
`It helped to bring down number of head injury cases in Bangalore City'

# State human rights panel to be set up soon
# Law University to be established in Hubli

BANGALORE: The Government will not revoke the rule making helmets mandatory for two-wheeler riders in the limits of Bangalore City and five other city corporations in the State, Minister for Home, Law and Parliamentary Affairs M.P Prakash has said. The rule came into effect from November 1 last.

Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, he said that more than 95 per cent of two-wheeler riders had been wearing helmets in Bangalore City. This had reduced the number of cases of head injury and the public had welcomed the government decision, he said.

Following protests against the rule, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy recently said that the Government would reconsider the decision.

The rule applies in the limits of the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority; Mysore; Mangalore; Gulbarga; Hubli-Dharwad; and Belgaum city corporations. The Bellary City Corporation has been exempted from the rule in view of the high day temperature there.

Wearing of helmets by two-wheeler riders is mandatory under Section 129 of the Motor Vehicles Act.

Mr. Prakash said the State Human Rights Commission would be set up before the commencement of the State Legislature session on January 25. Mr. Prakash said the Government had set aside Rs. 5 crore for providing interim relief to the victims of "atrocities" committed by the Joint Special Task Force set up to apprehend Veerappan.

The Karnataka Law University would be established in Hubli. It would be functional in the 2007-08 academic year, he said.