Gujarat: Over 3,000 govt staff challaned in 3 hours for driving without helmet, `15.96L fine collected

The Indian Express has learnt that 3,192 government employees were fined in 39 traffic police jurisdictions across the state on Tuesday morning. At Rs 500 per challan, fines worth a total of Rs 15.96 lakh were collected between 10 am and 12 pm on Tuesday.

The drive is aimed at mitigating the number of deaths and injuries caused by road accidents, and has been started with a crackdown on government staffers as they are believed to be “role models” for the public.

M L Ninama, Inspector General of State Traffic Branch said that apart from major cities, Banaskantha, Surendranagar and Bharuch reported large number of violations. One-fifth of the violations were reported from Ahmedabad — 473 in Ahmedabad City and 220 in Ahmedabad Rural. Two other jurisdictions reported more than 200 cases, with Banaskantha traffic police fining 219 government employees and 210 challaned in Surat City. This was followed by Surendranagar with 196 cases, Rajkot city with 164, and Bharuch with 127. Gandhinagar Traffic Police penalised 60, while the number was 30 in Vadodara city.

As the drive continued on Tuesday, the total violations reported in Ahmedabad City reached 660 and the total fine to Rs 3.3 lakh, according to a statement from JCP (Traffic) N N Chaudhary. These also included 72 police personnel. Meanwhile, Rajkot, which began the drive on Monday, reported 395 violations later on Tuesday and collected a total fine of Rs 1,97,500, said DCP (Traffic) Pooja Yadav.

The letter sent to senior police officers on Monday ordering the drive had also stated, “It is important to implement the helmet rule in Gujarat to mitigate the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by road traffic accidents.” The letter, accessed by The Indian Express, also stated, “Government employees are considered responsible citizens and are looked up on as role models for others.”