PONDA: The Ponda residents have demanded that the traffic sentinels be stopped from reporting cases of riders not wearing helmet in Ponda city where traffic proceeds at snail’s pace.
The demand comes in the wake of the traffic cell at Panjim issuing hundreds of challans to Ponda residents, based on photos sent by traffic sentinels.
The residents say that though the government has made wearing helmets compulsory for two-wheeler riders on all roads since past several years, but the Ponda traffic police never implemented the mandatory helmet rule till today.
Hundreds of riders who received challans demand that the helmet rule be relaxed within Ponda City, on ground that the roads in cities are crowded and traffic proceeds at snail’s pace. These riders also say that they were unaware that traffic sentinels clicked photos of them riding without helmet. Besides, the affected riders demand that the challan issued to them be revoked.
The riders accuse the traffic sentinels of not applying their mind to the traffic congestion and using the scheme as a money making business.
“It is simply harassment of the middle class. Further, to pay the challans, we have to travel to Panjim or Margao wasting more money and time,” a Ponda resident said.
Ulhas Naik, another Ponda resident, said that instead of making the people travel all the way to Margao or Panjim to pay the challans, the Traffic cell or the RTO at Ponda should accept payment of challans sent by post.
Santosh Sawant, another Ponda resident, is of the opinion that that government should not implement compulsory helmet rule in cities.
“There is no need of helmet within Ponda, which is a small city congested with traffic. We have to halt at several places for buying fish, vegetables, clothes etc. How the middle class and poor people would keep with them the helmet and baskets and carry bags of shopping. There is no parking space in the city, as such, people are forced to park their vehicles in ‘no parking areas’ and get fined or locked by traffic department,” he said.
According former Ponda municipal chairperson and sitting Councillor Venktesh Naik, compulsory helmet rule should not be implemented in cities where the speed limit is below 40 kms and traffic proceeds at slow pace.
He said that the Traffic Department should stop harassing people through traffic sentinels. “The traffic sentinel scheme has become a money making schemes and business for traffic police and sentinels who are mostly their friends,” Naik said.
He said that he had noticed several traffic police stand at Dada Vaidya Chowk in city, some of them record traffic, click photos of riders in city without helmet on the mobiles of their friends and they send this to traffic department. “There is some scheming going on in the traffic sentinel scheme. There is need for an investigation into the way how the traffic sentinels report the violation,” Naik said.
When questioned why riders are fined for not wearing helmets within Ponda city, Traffic PI Praveen Gawas said that Section 129 of Motor Vehicles Act makes wearing of helmet on all roads compulsory. “Our traffic police are not issuing challans by stopping them in city as it would create long queues of vehicles leading to traffic congestion,” he said.
Members of NGOs that are involved in road safety had no answer to the question, why they are not bothered about safety of pillions, but only the riders wearing helmet.
Mahesh Naik, Sandesh, Narayan Naik, Shivaji Naik and many others who had received challans for not wearing helmet in city, said that government was giving relaxation to bike riders in Ponda City.
