NAGPUR: The city unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to launch a civil disobedience movement against the compulsion on helmets being enforced by the city police. The party will organise a helmet-less rally on July 26 to protest the 'highhandedness' of the cops.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, MLA Devendra Fadnavis and city president Sudhakar Deshmukh said that police were not doing their duty and trying to penalise the common citizens for it.
"Seventy percent of accidental deaths are due to speeding trucks on Ring Road that are given illegal entry by the police. The police should first check this menace before talking about helmets," Fadnavis said.
The MLA charged that traffic police have also turned a blind eye towards autorickshaws plying without meter. "Very few autos, if any, at all ply by meter. As a result the people of Nagpur have no option to use two-wheelers while travelling with their families.
"Any rule is for the convenience of the people and not for harassing them. The practical side has to be taken into account while enforcing any law. There are tens of laws that are not being enforced, then why harp about the helmets only?" Fadnavis asked.
BJP city general secretary Sanjay Bhende claimed that experts are divided on whether helmets are beneficial or not. Under these circumstances there is no point in making helmets compulsory, he asserted. "We are not satisfied with merely an ISI certification. The government should decide a certifying agency that would grade the helmets," he demanded.
The BJP leaders said that they were willing to explain their side to the new police commissioner Praveen Dixit. "If the commissioner wants to launch an awareness drive, we will give our full cooperation," they said.
Replying to a query, Fadnavis said that he supported the signature campaign launched by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Meanwhile, the all party Helmet Virodhi Manch Kruti Samiti has decided to hold a protest rally on July 25, the day from which wearing helmets will become compulsory.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nagpur/BJP_to_organise_helmet-less_rally_on_July_26/articleshow/3254742.cms
