Describing the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 that proposes higher fines for several traffic violations as “very harsh”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that her government will not implement it in Bengal.
“We are not implementing the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, which was passed recently in the Parliament, at present in West Bengal because it is very harsh. Of course we are going for a “Safe Drive Save Life” campaign,” the Chief Minister told journalists at the State Secretariat.
Speaking about the new law, Ms. Banerjee said that when it was discussed in the Parliament, her party members had raised objections of interference into the federal structure.
“They didn’t listen to us. Unilaterally you cannot take a decision which will harm people. Now, if anything is wrong, instead of ₹500 they will charge ₹10,000. There are so many poor people also, where will they get all this money from?” she said. According to the Trinamool Congress chairperson, solutions to problems should be taken keeping “humanitarian grounds in mind”.
The Chief Minister said that all those in her government including government officials are of the opinion that “it will be overburdening the people”. There are reports that some State governments including the BJP led government in Gujarat announced a drastic cut in the penalties for traffic violations under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019.
Ms. Banerjee said that the 'Save Drive Save Life' campaign launched by the State government has brought down accidents in the State. “ We are working on this, our police is also working with us along with NGOs as well as students from schools and colleges, including the press media are also helping us,” she said.
