Team Herald
PANJIM: As assured in the State Legislative Assembly, following a demand to scrap the controversial Traffic Sentinel Scheme, the government has decided to set up a committee to review it.
Transport Minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar said the committee will be headed by Secretary (Transport). “The Traffic Sentinel Scheme is being severely criticised by many people including the legislators. We have therefore decided to review the scheme by appointing a committee which will have Transport (Secretary) as its Chairman in addition to different members,” he said, while addressing a press conference on Thursday.
Incidentally, minutes before this announcement, the government approved Goa Police’s proposal to start an e-challan system in the State. The new system will ensure transparency in transactions as violators will be fined through an e-challan device equipped with POS machine and the penalty amount will have to be paid on the spot. The implementation will thus do away with the traditional system of issuing challans to violators.
Dhavalikar, who has been defending the Traffic Sentinel Scheme, said 90 per cent riders have started wearing helmets since its implementation and added that fatal accidents have dropped. “The number of accidents has reduced, but I am still not happy. It needs to come down further,” he said.
MLAs cutting across political lines had opposed the scheme, except for ministers like Dhavalikar himself, Vijai Sardesai and Nilesh Cabral, during the Budget session of the Assembly held from January 28 to 31. MLAs had alleged that the scheme was being misused and its continuation could lead to a law and order problem in the State.
The police department has also been claiming that it has reduced fatalities and largely brought discipline on the roads. Since the launch of the scheme in November 2017, the Traffic Cell revealed that around 2.01 lakh notices have been generated to the violators till January 2019. In the last calendar year itself, over 7 lakh violators were booked.
