Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Jan 10: Apparently, Itanagar is fast registering itself as a city with one of the highest numbers of Motor Vehicles (MV) Act violators in India. So it appears from the whopping amount collected by the police through penalties imposed on violators of the act.
City Police on Thursday revealed that it collected Rs 43,03000 from violators in 2018 – which works out to an average of Rs 20,000 per day.
Capital Complex Superintendent of Police M Harsha Vardhan informed The Arunachal Times that the total number of MV Act violators registered in 2018 was nearly 20,000.
The violators were penalized and booked for different offences under the MV Act 2012. In the month of December 2018 alone, the police collected Rs 60,2600 from violators.
Altogether 2292 persons were booked for driving without licence in 2018; out of these, 289 were booked within the month of December.
At least 92 persons were penalized for drunken driving in 2018 (out of which 76 cases occurred in December), while 168 persons were penalized for not wearing a helmet.
“Nearly 820 persons were imposed fines for driving without a number plate or with defective number plates, out of which 179 violators were booked in December,” the SP said.
“In triple-riding, 1081 persons were penalized in 2018, of which 67 were booked in December,” he said.
The SP informed that the department is constantly carrying out checks, and conducting drives to bring civic sense among the public.
“The frequent checking has resulted in more than 50 two-wheelers remaining unclaimed at both the (Itanagar and Naharlagun) police stations,” he said.
The amounts collected through penalties have been deposited to the state exchequer, the SP informed.
He lamented, however, that “despite such penalties imposed on the violators, there is little behavioral change; else the cases should have minimized in number.”
Vardhan informed that City Police is mulling maintaining a database of violators, including vehicle registration numbers, driving licence numbers, etc, to identify repeat violators, “so that appropriate action can be initiated.”
