Nagpur: Waking up a day after a teenager was molested at knifepoint in a running car having tinted glasses, the city traffic police have launched
a drive against such vehicles. However, the police denied the drive was linked to the incident. On Friday, several traffic officers were on road supervising the action against vehicle owners driving having transparency less than stipulated 70%.
Harish Chavan, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said that around 220 offenders were pulled up on day one for the violation. "The drive is part of the ongoing actions against the traffic violators. We did not start due to a certain incident in the city it is part of regular traffic police action. We undertake such actions regularly. Our efforts shifts from cracking down on seat belt violators, signal jumping and such actions from time to time. We want to keep the surprise element alive in our drive by switching to different modes," said Chavan adding that six traffic divisions have been effectively conducting drive in all corners of the city.
However, this does not fit with the reality of almost everyone violating helmet and seat-belt rules as well as many brazenly talking on mobiles while driving. Citizens are keeping their fingers crossed about the latest police action making any material difference on the ground.
The police had undertaken similar drives in different cities in the wake of threat from the anti-national forces. By cracking down on the vehicles with dark glasses, the cops also aim at checking smuggling of arms and other contraband.
Chavan said that traffic officials were stopping cars with tinted glasses to check whether they were able to see the interiors properly under daylight. "Most of the time, the opacity is mentioned on the film itself. In case there is no indication, we trust our vision to judge whether the dark glass rule (Section 100/177 of Motor Vehicles Act) has been violated. The fine for it is Rs 100 for first offence," said Chavan claiming the drive would to continue for sometime.