Cops crack down on beacons on private vehicles,defaulters to face strict action

The nine have been booked under impersonation IPC Section (417) and handed over to the local police stations,said officers. Four of the nine cases were made out in Vikhroli and were handed over to the Navghar police station. Till date the Traffic Police have penalised 630 cars for illegal use of beacons.

Before they made the drive official,the Traffic Police had extensively used its Facebook page to ask for information on individuals using beacons illegally. “From now,we will arrest people misusing beacons for impersonation under the Indian Penal Code,” said Pratap Dighavkar,Deputy Commissioner of Police (traffic). “The red or amber beacons are seen as a symbol of authority and are often misused. They are used to evade tolls,get parking facilities and even to evade signals”.

Police said they have also found instances where ministers have been found misusing their privileges. In cases where ministers are also heading additional offices and provided with a second car,such as chairperson of a public sector undertaking,they use a beacon light for the additional car too,which is against the rules,said an officer. “This second car is fitted with a red beacon light but is ultimately used by his family for their personal work,” said an officer. Senior traffic officers pointed out that there should be rules to ban the sale and purchase of beacon lights and their procurement should be limited to government departments.