In a move to tighten the grip on traffic offenders, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has proposed a system where traffic fines are automatically deducted from a violator’s bank account. Speaking at the launch of the ‘Arrive Alive’ road safety campaign on Monday, the CM suggested that vehicle owners should link their bank accounts at the time of registration. This shift to an auto-debit model is intended to replace manual fine collection, which often sees offenders delaying payments or waiting for government concessions.
Reddy didn’t hold back on the issue of accountability, particularly regarding underage and drunk driving. He said that parents should face criminal charges if they allow minors to get behind the wheel and cause accidents. He emphasised that road safety needs to be treated as a top priority, noting that while maintaining law and order was once the police department's main focus, managing the chaos of modern traffic has now become an even bigger challenge. He called for this oversight to be handled by high-ranking officials at the DGP and Additional DGP levels.
To back these measures with technology, the Chief Minister announced that the state has signed an MoU with Google to help manage traffic flow. He also ordered officials to link the city's vast network of CCTV cameras with the Command Control Centre for better monitoring. Quoting a national statistic of one road accident occurring every minute in India, Reddy said these should not be treated as mere accidents, but as "avoidable deaths" due to lack of discipline.
Drawing analogies with HYDRAA and EAGLE Force meant for containment of lake encroachments and drug abuse, respectively, the CM made a strong plea for a system exclusively devoted to traffic regulation. He emphasised that awareness on safety should begin in schools as those who conform to rules are often victimised by others' negligence. The meeting was attended by Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, DGP B Shivadhar Reddy, and other top brass of Home Department and City Police, which only gives an indication of the seriousness of the initiative to go in for comprehensive restructuring of transport and enforcement systems in the state.
Also read: 300 stray dogs killed in Telangana; 9 booked
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