The traffic police on Thursday launched a crackdown on the use of dark film tints on the safety glasses of vehicles and issued over 3,400 challans against the errant vehicle owners on the first day.
Penalty
A penalty of Rs.100 each was slapped on them.
Out of the total cases booked as part of the drive, more than 40 were the government vehicles.
Awareness programme
The crackdown started after two weeks of awareness programme taken up by the police. They had distributed pamphlets to educate the motorists about Apex Court judgment banning the use of tinted film.
“We are issuing a challan of Rs.100 against each vehicle owner for violating the norms. If they fail to comply with rules, we will increase the fine amount,” Additional CP (Traffic) C.V. Anand said. Instructions were also given to the police personnel to remove the tinted film at least partially, he said.
“As window glasses get defaced with this, the motorists will be forced to remove the tints completely,” he explained.
In its judgment, the court made it clear that no one is authorised to use dark film irrespective of their status. Only those who have ‘Z’ or ‘Z+’ category security are allowed to use such tints on their official vehicles that too for security purposes, Mr. Anand said.
Discarded tinted films
With police cracking the whip at them, motorists made a beeline to the car decor shops in the city to remove dark tints.
The lanes and by-lanes on the Minister’s Road and L.B. Stadium where sizeable car decor shops are located have been littered with discarded tinted films.
The decor shops, on the other hand, made most of the opportunity to earn some quick bucks.
Motorists were charged anywhere between Rs.450 and Rs.600 depending on the type of vehicle, though the traffic police have advised them to charge only Rs.100 per vehicle.
