The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Safety takes a backseat

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Tuesday, Sep 02, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Safety takes a backseat

Though the police claim wearing of helmets by two-wheeler riders is being enforced, one wonders how the majority of them still continue to violate the rule with impunity. At least 90 per cent of the two-wheeler riders are seen without helmets. And if the police say that quite a lot of amount was realised by way of challans, it could be that violation of helmet rule was included along with other blatant violations, it is argued. What comes as a surprise is that police are seen taking photographs of drivers not wearing seat belts of four-wheelers to penalise them even while letting two-wheeler drivers without helmets go scot free. Vizag traffic has become so congested that driving a two-wheeler has become hazardous and travel by car made very safe in comparison. And the traffic is so heavy the car driver can hardly travel at speeds that need fastening a seat belt or provide collapsible steering facility for protection.

Fleecing the visitors

The long Beach Road is packed with people on weekends and holidays and the vendors, particularly those selling ice cream and chat are fleecing the visitors. While many visitors found the chat vendors hiking the price on Saturdays and Sundays, the ice cream vendors, who sell brands of leading companies, give little chance or time for the buyers to know the price or even look for it. The price of every delicacy displayed on colourful poster or cardboard sheet that is displayed on the pushcart is erased and the vendor removes the wrapper of a candy or the lid of a cone or cup as soon as he picks it up out of the icebox. The buyer has to pay the price told by the vendor. A candy costing Rs. 10 is sold for Rs. 15. Thus a family, if it buys four candies is paying for six! If a customer takes the trouble of finding the right price, the vendor’s reply is that he is charging more because he is selling it on the beach road, as if it is a remote place where nothing is available or he is spending a huge sum on transport. Thus people, who are forced to pay more for snacks, soft drinks, coffee or tea at a cinema theatre are also getting fleeced on the Beach Road.

Do’s and don’ts for demos

Protesters as well as the police seem to need proper training. While protesters should learn the art of not violating the law and drive home their point by staging symbolic protests, the police should know how to tame the agitated demonstrators. Of late, due to shortage of manpower, police were seen trapping protesters with ropes and later loading them into waiting vans. There are also umpteen number of cases where male policemen had dragged and overpowered women protesters to prevent them from entering government offices.

It is high-time dos and don’ts are issued on how to protest effectively and how to handle protesters attempting to violate law.

(Prabhakkar Sharma,

G. Narasimha Rao and Santosh Patnaik)

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Andhra Pradesh