Move for making helmet mandatory

July 31, 2014

Praveer Ranjan wants police-people interface

Praveer Ranjan, IG of Puducherry.Photo: S.S. Kumar

Expressing concern over the spate of road accidents in the Union Territory, the new police chief and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Praveer Ranjan on Wednesday said he would recommend to the Government to implement compulsory wearing of helmets by two-wheeler riders.

“Wearing of helmets is absolutely non-existent in Puducherry,” said Mr. Ranjan while addressing presspersons here to list out his policing priorities.

Statistics showed that in so many road accidents, people died only because they were not wearing helmets. “I will propose to the government to implement the helmet rule in the city at the earliest,” he said.

Describing road traffic issues as one of main interfaces with police for the public, Mr Ranjan advocated improving traffic regulation. “Right now, I myself feel very dissatisfied with the way traffic is managed in the city. There is scope for improvement.”

He also underscored the need for creating awareness among the public about lane driving and speed regulations.

Noting that the law and order situation in the city had improved over the past year or so, he said steps would be taken to make it even better.

The police chief expressed his wish to improve the police-people interface to minimise complaints against the law enforcers.

“People should look upon the police as a friendly and easily accessible unit. There should not be any complaint of rude or impolite behaviour on the part of police,” he said.

“I will take stringent on any misconduct on the police side,” he added.

Holding his proposed strengthening of community policing among fishermen as a matter close to his heart, he said he wished to augment community policing at all levels.

Expressing hope for early approval from the Union government for the proposed safe city project, Mr. Ranjan said the project would cover the entire city.

On the ongoing initiative to computerise and network all police stations under the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network (CCTN) programme, the IGP said that so far 90 per cent of records were digitised and soon the entire country could be linked up on the network.

Mr. Ranjan said 100 more women would be recruited soon in the existing 400 vacancies. On technology exposure and skill training, he said he wanted to send batches of policemen to other centres to undergo training in latest technologies.

Source:The Hindu