Amendments to the Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA) Act for digital enforcement and physical enforcement on National Highways and State Highways to ensure road discipline is under the consideration of the government.
“The amendments to the KRSA Act for digital enforcement and to rope in the MVD personnel from the Safe Kerala and Highway Patrol of the Kerala Police will further bring down road fatalities and accidents,” DGP and Commissioner, Road Safety, Kerala Road Safety Authority, N. Shanker Reddy told The Hindu . Mr. Reddy is retiring from the Indian Police Service (IPS) after 34 years of service on August 31.
The Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA) has approved the amendments. The government has set up a committee with representatives of Transport, police, Public Works Department, and Law and the Road Safety Commissioner to look into the proposed changes, Mr. Reddy said. The sweeping changes for ensuring the presence of law enforcers on the road had been mooted even as road accidents and fatalities have come down in the State in the first quarter of 2020.
“The strict law enforcement by the police and the MVD personnel and fines going up for various offences such as not wearing helmet and seat belt had resulted in the declining trend and this is continuing during the lockdown period,” Mr. Reddy said.
The Road Safety Commissioner said the KRSA, with its limited personnel and resources, had been able to make its presence felt among the road users.
“My long pilgrimage to the God’s Own Country is coming to an end. I was very fortunate to get the Kerala cadre and work in the midst of the most enlightened people,” says Mr. Reddy.
Mr. Reddy recalled the reopening of the death cases of one Sali and of Lakshmi Bai, under the Vellarada police station, which were closed as suicides much prior to his joining as Superintendent of Police, Thiruvananthapuram Rural. Subsequent investigations revealed them to be murders. “We arrested all the accused in both the cases and they were sentenced to life imprisonment,” he says.
The appreciation from Justice Bhaskaran Nambiar Commission of Inquiry, which inquired into the Sivagiri incidents, is another feather in the cap of Mr. Reddy.
“Pitted against a police adversary, Shanker Reddy, SP, Rural, Thiruvananthapuram, had the formidable task of defending the police as an officer directly linked to the Sivagiri inquiry.....He was independent and intelligent without being intimidated and gave an excellent proof of an ideal police officer in the Police force,” says the report. Mr. Reddy was in charge of the police action on October 11, 1995.
The Kerala State Beverages (M&M) Corporation attained tremendous growth under the stewardship of Mr. Reddy, who was the managing director. The additional revenue of about ₹90 crore generated during 2005-06 without pumping in additional capital or man power had come in for praise from the government.
Mr. Reddy had also worked as Director of Kerala Women’s Commission; DIG, Thrissur Range, Kannur Range, Intelligence, and IGP VACB; ADGP VACB; ADGP North Zone, Kozhikode; Director, VACB.
Mr. Reddy is winner of the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2003 and the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in the year 2012.
Mr. Reddy plans to settle down in his home town, Ananthapur. “I am returning to my home State happy, with the work done in Kerala,” he said.
