Visitors to RTO flout helmet rule, officials not bothered

Nagpur: The ‘no helmet no entry’ diktat for visitors to all three regional transport offices in Nagpur had no impact on Day One. Despite the department installing cautionary boards at the entry gates of all three offices prominently, visitors were seen entering the RTO compound throughout the day without the mandatory headgear, as the officials enforcing the helmet mandate seemed to have turned a blind eye.
On Thursday, TOI reported that the new RTO Rajabhau Gite has made it mandatory for two-wheeler riders and pillion riders to wear helmet as a prerequisite to enter the offices.

While standing outside the city RTO for over an hour, TOI spotted not just visitors but even many employees entering or exiting on two-wheelers without wearing helmet.
In a display board, the department mentioned that over 7,700 people die every year in the state due to not wearing helmet. “Had these riders been wearing helmet, their lives would have been saved,” it further reads.
Gite cited manpower crunch for the non-enforcement of helmet rule. He, however, assured that one official from the department would be deployed at the entrance of all the three offices — City (Amravati road), East (Chikhli, Kalamna) and Rural (near rural police headquarters).
He also said apart from restricting entry of helmetless two-wheeler riders and pillion riders, the department will also impose fines on the violators of Motor Vehicles Act.
Though traffic experts welcomed the RTO move, they sounded sceptical about about implementation. “This is a very good idea if implemented sincerely,” said traffic expert Vinay Kunte.
According to him, in India we draft new rules with great fanfare and big enthusiasm, but when it comes to implementation the same becomes no one’s baby. “No one is interested in making such rules work because they have to work hard and put in a lot of effort in enforcing them. Just two days before Samruddhi Expressway was opened by PM Narendra Modi, our deputy CM along with the CM drove his SUV to Shirdi and then declared in public that he drove the vehicle at 150km/ hour and reached Shirdi in just 3 hours,” Kunte said.