Team Herald
PANJIM: The Centre has pulled up the State government for having failed to implement the amended Central Motor Vehicle Act even nearly three months after in came into effect across the country. The State withheld the amended Act temporarily, following the public outcry over steep penalties, and had decided to bring it into force from January 2020.
“I had postponed the implementation due to potholed roads, that until the roads are reasonably repaired the amended Act will not be implemented. I had tentatively fixed it to January 2020, but for this I was pulled up by the Centre during a recent meeting (in Delhi). They asked me why Goa is lagging behind. It was hard to explain that it was because Goan people are little different. Nevertheless, they considered our sentiment,” Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho said on Monday.
On July 31, 2019 Parliament passed the MV (amendment) Bill 2019, which exponentially increases fines for traffic offenses.
Urging people to not protest the amendment Act’s enforcement in the State, the minister brought to the notice of citizens how Goa was left red-faced during the Rajya Sabha proceedings when data released by the Ministry of Transport revealed that Goa was almost at the bottom of the list for imposing hefty fines on the violators.
“It looked like we are not following the rules mandated by the Centre. If we continue opposing, we will be seriously committing a grave mistake,” he added.
In mid-September, the State government had said it would first repair the pothole-ridden roads under moral responsibility before stating imposing steeper fines under the Centre’s MV Act from January 2020.
In an attempt to provide relief to people protesting the implementation, Goa is considering following the Gujarat model to revise penalties in certain cases. Godinho said, they will follow the Gujarat model, however, for certain serious offences like ‘drunken driving,’ reduction of fine amount is not feasible as per the law.
“The Central government has been doing this to bring discipline on the roads and reduce accidents. So much has been debated. It is our job to make it applicable in Goa as soon as possible,” he further said.
The minister, known for his outright attitude, asked people that if they do not break the laws, paying hefty fines why should it bother them. “If you don’t break the law, you will not pay the fine,” he said.
To ensure awareness on it upcoming move, the minister has directed Secretary (Transport) and Director (Transport) to hold programs educating people about the amended MV Act.
