Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: DCP (Traffic) Prasanta Saikia sees better days ahead inasmuch as traffic is concerned in the event of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, 2019 becoming an Act and being implemented in Assam. The Bill has been passed in the Rajya Sabha recently.
Talking to this reporter, the DCP highlighted the bright sides of the Bill like mandatory submission of Aadhaar for driving licence and vehicle registration, government’s compensation of Rs 2 lakh to victim’s family in deaths in hit-and-run cases, holding guardians or owners of vehicle responsible in traffic violations by juveniles unless they prove the offence was committed without their knowledge or they tried to prevent it etc.
In such cases, according to the DCP, the registration of the motor vehicle in question will be cancelled and the juvenile will be tried under the Juvenile Justice Act. “This apart, the Bill has provisions for protection of Good Samaritans. Those who come forward to help accident
victims will be protected from civil or criminal liability,” he said, and added: “The minimum fine for drunk driving has been increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000. The fine for rash driving has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000. Driving without a licence will attract a minimum fine of Rs 5,000 as against Rs 500 at present. The fine for over-speeding will go up from Rs 400 to Rs 1,000-2,000.” The Bill, if it becomes an Act and is implemented in Assam, will make people more serious over traffic rules. “Heavy penalty will make them not to violate traffic rules willfully,” Prasanta Saikia said.