Of high security number plates and the price : The clampers and the rider
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 29, 2014 -

Of high security number plates and the price : The clampers and the rider

The Transport Department is in the news, even if it may just be the opinion of an individual.

The Traffic Control Police is also in the news, though the issue central to one of the news is still in the stage of investigation while the other one is a welcome change, a new and innovative idea from the stable of the Imphal West Police SP and the Deputy Superintendent of Traffic police.

To those who missed out, here is a recap.

A few days back, the English edition of The Sangai Express received a letter to the Editor from a certain gentleman, Mr B Chongtham.

The letter by itself was an eye opener in a sense, especially to those who did not bother to check or had no knowledge of the fees charged for installing the much hyped high security number plates on four wheelers.

According to the gentleman, while the fees for installing the high security number plate is Rs 214 in Delhi, Rs 620 in Andhra Pradesh and Rs 320 in Assam, it is Rs 1330 in Manipur.

We are not jumping the guns, but there are grounds to believe this, for no one would take the trouble of sitting down and pen a letter to the Editor, if he or she had no substance to talk about.

The said letter to the Editor was published in the March 28 edition of this paper and readers who did not miss out on that letter must have started asking questions.

Our only wish is they do not stop with asking questions themselves but use any platform, especially the media to raise the questions, of course without being defamatory.

To be sure The Sangai Express understand that there are bound to be differences in the fees charged, but isn't this taking things a little too far ? May not exactly be daylight robbery, but it comes uncomfortably close to such a case.

By all means, the Transport Department owes an explanation to the people.

This is the sour news, not exactly a news item but an 'informed' opinion, which should ideally start a debate, a healthy debate.

Why should the motorists of Manipur have to shell out so much more than their counter parts in other States ? Will the Transport Minister please answer this ? Or will it just be dismissed as the rambling of a dissatisfied individual ? If the case is the latter then it would not be acceptable under any circumstances.

To shift gear to the Traffic Control police, the introduction of clampers on four wheelers which are parked in no parking zones and haphazardly, posing great inconveniences to the public is a welcome move and long over due, if one may add.

A few days back, The Sangai Express carried a brief report along with a picture of the clampers being fixed on a four wheeler for wrong parking.

This is something which should been taken up a long time back, for increasingly, it has become clear that the understanding of driving here has not progressed beyond kicking the engine into life, pressing the clutch, putting the vehicle on top gear and slowly releasing the cluth to put the vehicle into motion.

However certain points should be made very clear.

Such a move should cover everyone

It would have been great if the Traffic Control Police had the gumption to put on the clampers on the vehicles of security personnel, who have no qualms about parking their vehicles anywhere they like.

Take a look at any of the busy market places and one will get a fair idea of what we are talking about.

Big, heavy vehicles of security personnel parked in no parking zones plum in the middle of MG Road or near (erstwhile ?) Jalan Provision Stores was/is a daily routine.

Has any security personnel been pulled up for violating traffic rules and regulations ? The apartheidic approach has to go, if the new measures have to have any meaning or substance.

There can be no two sets of law, one for the civilians and one for the suited, booted class and men in uniform.

The exceptions made for the Fire Brigade and Ambulances are understandable and perfectly in line with the motive of saving lives and properties.

The other development that made it to the news was the confrontation between a not so high profile lady and a lady police officer.

No one exactly knows who is in the right, that is whether the lady police officer stepped out of her line and acted haughtily or whether the other lady refused to get down from her high horse.

However in a sudden twist the police have gone on record to state that the original number plate was assigned to a Tata Indigo car but was found attached to a Honda CRV-SUV.

If this is the case, then let the law take its own course.