Bhubaneswar: Commuters, who are yet to get their necessary documents ready, must brace up now as the Odisha government today made it clear that there won't be any further relaxation and stricter enforcement of traffic rules under the revised Motor Vehicles Act will be reintroduced from December 1.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had relaxed the enforcement drive for three months in September following a face-off between police and public at Rajmahal Square in Bhubaneswar over hefty fines levied under the amended MV Act.
However, even after three months, serpentine queues are being seen at the regional transport offices across the State and it doesn't seem people will be able to get all the required documents ready in the next four days.
"I have been coming to the RTO office for the last three months, but I am yet to get my documents ready. Lack of proper arrangements by the government and shortage of staff is delaying the entire process. Hence, we request the government to extend the deadline by one more month," said a driving license applicant in Bhubaneswar.
Even RTO officials are of the view that the three-month time is not enough to complete the entire process. "We are working from morning 9:30 am to evening 7 pm, but the work is not getting completed. We are not even getting time to drink water and have food. This three-month time is not enough," said an RTO staff in Berhampur, B Manjula.
"We are working under a lot of pressure. We are only 10-15 staff here for the work which requires additional 10-15 members," said another RTO staff, Srilaxmi Parida.
However, Odisha Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera today said that there will be no further extension of the relaxation as it is the responsibility of the State government to ensure the safety of commuters by enforcing the traffic rules.
"There won't be any further extension and the enforcement will continue as usual after the deadline," said Behera.
The minister further claimed that following the enforcement of the new MV Act, a 50 per cent drop in the number of road accidents have been recorded and hence, the new traffic norms should be enforced in the larger interests of the people.