Bhubaneswar: Odisha government is mulling over the idea of giving relaxation in fine amount for violation of traffic rules as done by its Gujarat counterpart.
This was hinted by state transport department secretary G. Srinivas here on Wednesday.
“We are observing the moves of other states over the MV Act 2019. Discussions and consultations are underway to take a decision regarding reduction of the fine amount in the state,” said Mr Srinivas here.
The top official, who visited the regional transport office 1 (RTO-1) here to take stock of steps undertaken for fast processing of vehicle-related documents of applicants, said more counters will be opened at RTOs to expedite the process. He advised people to obtain/update documents of their vehicles within three months.
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik had on Monday asked the enforcement agencies not to go on overdrive but counsel and handhold the people to facilitate compliance.
The chief minister’s office said that this process will continue over next three months so that adequate time is available to the public to ensure compliance.
State commerce and transport minister Padmanabha Behera said the offices of his department will remain open in holidays to allow the public to prepare documents needed as per the Motor Vehicles Act 2019.
The minister informed that special camps would also be set up at different places to help motorists comply with the amended provisions of the MV Act.
“The state government will provide all kind of support to the public to help them arrange their vehicle documents within the relaxation period,” he added.
The minister said that the collected fine amount will not be returned to motorists who were penalised for traffic norm violations.
Meanwhile, Twin City police commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi asked motorists to prepare the required documents within three months. Otherwise, they will face strict action if found to be violating traffic norms once the relaxation period gets over, he warned.
