Ministries divided over VIP list for red beacon vehicles

Nudged by SC, the government is formally considering the option of a drastic cut in the list of VIPs allowed red beacons. But it is still not clear if the home ministry will back the move. Moushumi Das Gupta reports.

Nudged by the Supreme Court (SC), the government is formally considering the option of a drastic cut in the list of VIPs allowed red beacons. But it is still not clear if the home ministry will back the move.

HT Image

The road transport ministry has asked the home ministry to take a stand on the nuisance created by red beacons atop vehicles and their sirens blaring on the streets in Delhi, and elsewhere in the country.

Sources said the Centre might seek some more time from the SC — where the case is coming up on July 9 — to frame its policy. On April 4, the SC gave the Centre and states time till July 9 to amend the Motor Vehicles Act to restrict the use of red beacons on official vehicles, failing which it would step in.

“Three options have been proposed: Drastically prune the list of dignitaries entitled to red beacon, marginally alter it or maintain status quo,” a source familiar with the road ministry’s proposal said after a key meeting on the issue on Thursday.

At Thursday’s inter-ministerial group meeting chaired by road secretary Vijay Chibber to decide the Centre’s stand, the home ministry conceded it had not made up its mind yet and sought some more days to spell out its stand.

Representatives of law ministry who attended the meeting were, however, of the view that the list of VIPs should be pruned.