Guwahati: Guwahati residents planning to fit their bikes with modified silencers might want to re-think for the city's traffic police has indicated that hefty fines shall be in store for such offenders. The police have also indicated that violators would be compelled to choke up a fine amounting to ₹10,000, as per the Motor Vehicles Act.
It is believed that the Guwahati Traffic Police has taken this step in a bid to curb noise pollution in the city where it been rising by leaps and bounds amid the urbanization and industrialization drives.
"We don't need no Sound Pollution, we don't need no Silencer Modification. Drive launched against noise pollution caused by unauthorized modifications in the vehicle's exhaust. The fine is ₹10,000 as per MV Act. Please follow rules," the Guwahati Traffic Police posted via its official handle Twitter, with a clever play on words with the words a re-imagining of the lyrics to the immortal Pink Floyd classic 'Another Brick in the Wall.'
The Guwahati Traffic Police has urged the city's residents to send their complaints to WhatsApp helpline numbers and thereby help the traffic police personnel bring these violators to book.
Two WhatsApp numbers and a Facebook page have been opened by the Guwahati Traffic Police for commuters to send "posts with photographs, videos, etc about traffic violators, complaints, information on traffic congestion, non-functioning of traffic police personnel."
The WhatsApp numbers where the Guwahati Traffic Police can be reached are as follows: 69012-69006 and 60261-76755. Moreover, the complaints can be sent to the Facebook page of the police, that is, 'Guwahati Traffic Police' (@GhtyTrafficPolice).
Thanks to this crackdown, the number of whirring and purring two-wheelers fitted with modified silencers in the city, an increasingly common sight, might actually cease to exist someday in the near future.