Days after the government prescribed steep penalties for traffic offenders under an amended law, a number of states have decided to slash them in their respective jurisdictions on "humanitarian" grounds. Ironically, leading the charge are BJP-ruled states.
Gujarat's Vijay Rupani government was the first to reduce the fines prescribed under the amended Motor Vehicles Act on Tuesday, bringing it down to as low as 10% of the actual amount for some offences. Other BJP-ruled states such as Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka came up with similar announcements soon afterwards, indicating that they may also consider making drastic changes at their end if the government did not reconsider - or at least scale down - the newly prescribed penalties that they say could become a burden on the people.

Days after the government prescribed steep penalties for traffic offenders under an amended law, a number of states have decided to slash them in their respective jurisdictions on "humanitarian" grounds. Ironically, leading the charge are BJP-ruled states.
Gujarat's Vijay Rupani government was the first to reduce the fines prescribed under the amended Motor Vehicles Act on Tuesday, bringing it down to as low as 10% of the actual amount for some offences. Other BJP-ruled states such as Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka came up with similar announcements soon afterwards, indicating that they may also consider making drastic changes at their end if the government did not reconsider - or at least scale down - the newly prescribed penalties that they say could become a burden on the people.