Traffic rules not for Hyderabad officials?

Hyderabad: Rash driving, wrong side driving and crossing zebra lines have become common for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) bureaucrats and officials. Most of the top brass in the corporation have an average pending challans of Rs.10,000 over at least 10 violations. Though the traffic authorities generated an online chargesheet for violating the traffic norms, the authorities are yet to clear the pending challans.

While the municipal administration and urban development minister cleared the pending fines after two Hyderabad traffic policemen issued challans as the minister's vehicle was going in the wrong direction on October 2. The bureaucrats working in the civic body are allegedly tarnishing the department's image.

The vehicle bearing registration number TS 09 FA 9295 used by the enforcement, vigilance and disaster management (EVDM) director and additional commissioner Vishwajit Kampati has 14 pending challans amounting to Rs.13,790. Of them, 10 are for over-speeding and dangerous driving, two for wrong side driving and crossing the stop line or zebra crossing. Another additional commissioner Vijaya Lakshmi's vehicle bearing registration number TS 09 FA 9746 has 20 challans amounting to Rs 16,300, of them 16 are for over-speeding or dangerous driving. Sanitation additional commissioner Badavath Santosh who uses a vehicle bearing registration number TS 09 FA 9291 has 14 pending challans to the tune of Rs 7290. Surprisingly, most of his traffic violations took place outside the GHMC limits.

Similarly, the GHMC vehicles bearing registration numbers AP 11 AA 8190 has 35 pending challans to the tune of Rs. 9890, vehicle number 29 DC 9763 has penal amount of Rs. 9,770 with 22 pending challans, vehicle number AP 11 AA 8283 has 18 pending challans to the tune of Rs. 3,100 and vehicle number AP 11 AA 8188 has 15 pending challans amounting to Rs. 2,4250.

Though legal notices were sent to these registration numbers, the official did not care a hoot.

Highly placed sources in the corporation said these bureaucrats had been using the vehicles according to their will and moving out of town even during the lockdown time wasting time and money. However, the MA&UD minister K. T. Rama Rao cleared the pending challans after two Hyderabad traffic policemen issued them as the minister's vehicle was going in the wrong direction on October 2.

He was penalised for Rs.1100 for wrong side driving. The policemen noticed Rama Rao’s vehicle being driven in the wrong direction near Bapu Ghat under the limits of the Langar Houz police station. This happened when the minister was about to leave Bapu Ghat after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi along with Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya and home minister Muhammed Mahmood Ali. As the road was blocked due to the movement of the Governors' convoy, the driver of Rama Rao’s vehicle took the wrong route to reach Bapu Ghat. The policemen stopped the vehicle and this reportedly led to an argument between them and some Telangana Rashtra Samiti leaders and party workers. Some police officers reportedly clarified that cops who stopped the vehicle did not know that it belonged to the minister.

When tried to reach the GHMC officials, they were unavailable for comment.