The Hindu : Govt. puts helmet rule in limbo

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 02, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Govt. puts helmet rule in limbo

By Suresh Krishnamoorthy

HYDERABAD May 1. Helmets are out. At least for now. The State Government has decided not to insist on helmets.

A high-level meeting was convened by the Home Minister, T. Devender Goud, today wherein the practical difficulties involved in the implementation of the helmet rule came up for discussion.

``For now, it is not feasible to implement the rule taking into consideration the low awareness levels among people about the rule position and also the practical difficulties. The decision has been kept in abeyance,'' the Minister clarified, setting at rest all confusion.

Among those who attended the meeting were the Commissioner of Police, M.V. Krishna Rao, the Additional Commissioner, Coordination, A.K. Khan, the Additional Commissioner, Traffic, D.T. Nayak, the Cyberabad Commissioner, M. Mahender Reddy, and others from the Transport Department. The traffic police's earlier announcement insisting on helmets had drawn flak from people and even the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, reportedly expressed displeasure over the hastiness with which the announcement came by. He reportedly told top traffic and transport officials to focus on increasing the levels of traffic awareness among people, and that forcible imposition would not be welcomed by people.

More over, it was the responsibility of officials to ensure that there were adequate stocks of helmets in the market. While there are an estimated 9.5 lakh two-wheelers in the twin cities alone, it was not clear as to how many of the two-wheeler owners have helmets.

The fact remained that the stocks available in the market were woefully inadequate to meet the demand.

The Chief Minister's `advice to officials' was repeated by Mr. Goud on Thursday too. As confusion reigned supreme over the helmet rule, there was a surge of people at the dozen-odd shops selling helmets.

The prices of helmets, mainly full-face models, ranged from Rs. 550 to Rs. 900.

As the originally fixed deadline approached, several shop owners jacked up the prices.

They blamed the suppliers for the increase in the prices.

Regular shops apart, several roadside vendors continued to do brisk business selling unbranded helmets, most of them with fake ISI marks.

No haste, Goud tells officials

HYDERABAD May 1. The State Government has directed officials to get to work on educating two-wheeler riders and bringing about awareness on the use of helmets. At the review meeting on Thursday, the Home Minister, T. Devender Goud, told officials not to act in a hasty manner and go about fixing deadlines and slapping fines on those found riding two-wheelers without a helmet.

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