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Road safety month: Transport dept to deal with lawbreakers in Lucknow strictly
Lucknow divisional commissioner Roshan Jacob, on January 3, ordering that traffic officers be on the alert for vehicles coming into the city from other districts with fake permits
During the Road Safety Month, the UP State Road Transport Commission (UPSRTC) and the Regional Transport Office have had to become overly alert in light of the slew of accidents in the city.
At the end of December, last year, when the dense fog began to set in, the UPSRTC had directed that buses suspend movement during those periods in the night when the visibility is low. The initial directive was to suspend movement for 12 hours starting from 8PM to 8AM.
This was later changed and allowed individual bus drivers to exercise their discretion and stop the bus at the nearest depot or bus stop when the visibility dipped. However, some buses are flouting this rule.
“By and large, most government buses are abiding by the rule and stopping during those hours. But for those who are not, they are being punished. Those drivers are being suspended or inter-regional transfers are being done. So far, we have taken action in 3-4 such cases,” said Ajeet Singh, general manager (technical), UPSRTC.
On December 21, a car with four passengers and a dog skidded off the road and fell into the Gomti river; only two passengers were rescued. On December 25, four people were killed and 1 injured, as a car fell into a drain in Lucknow as the driver lost control. Amidst New Year’s celebrations too, 87 people were injured in road accidents in Lucknow.
More recently, a directive was issued by Lucknow divisional commissioner Roshan Jacob, on January 3, ordering that traffic officers be on the alert for vehicles coming into the city from other districts with fake permits. This was to reduce the traffic congestion and accidents taking place in the outskirts.
“This is regarding tempos, and other delivery vans coming from other districts, specifically Unnao and Hardoi,” said additional transport commissioner, VK Sonakia. “The RTO and traffic office are jointly carrying out this work.”
The order had also stated that vehicles with Lucknow permits will be colour-coded so that they can be easily distinguished from vehicles from other districts.
Assistant regional transport officer Sandeep Pankaj is in-charge of enforcing the Lucknow mandal directive. He says that due to the ongoing Road Safely Month, it may take some time to get all the Lucknow vehicles colour-coded.
“The completion of this process might take about 15 days,” he said. “A committee has been constituted of transport officers, traffic police and tempo union members, who will be deciding the colour-coding system.” Pankaj explained that when such vehicles without permit will be noted by traffic police or by the ITMS (Integrated Traffic Management System), they will be issued a challan. “We will suspend the driver’s licence and suspend the owner’s permit for the vehicle.”
