Even as the city police are gearing up to enforce the helmet rule for two-wheeler riders strictly from Wednesday, a section of lawyers took out a motorbike rally (without wearing helmet) pressing the State Government to give up the renewed action against helmet-less riders.
Meanwhile, a surprise raid conducted by the officials of Department of Labour revealed that a majority of shops had made a killing by selling helmets at exorbitant rates – over and above the maximum retail price.
The city police and the district administration had been conducting a series of awareness programmes on the advantages of helmet use ever since the Madras High Court asked the State Government to implement helmet rule in letter and spirit. It also advised the government to cancel the driving licence of violators, till they produced a new helmet with a copy of the purchase bill.
The Commissioner of Police, Shailesh Kumar Yadav, on Tuesday appealed to motorists to cooperate with the police in enforcement of the Motor Vehicles Act, especially with respect to use of helmet while riding two-wheelers, from Wednesday.
“The High Court of Madras has also issued an instruction for the compulsory use of helmet by the motor cycle riders and pillion riders. You must use helmet while going on city roads. You may take pride in obeying the law of the country and make Madurai a disciplined city,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a city police officer said that children below the age of 12 years and women pillion riders were exempt from the helmet rule.
Similarly, people with medical certificates for exemption from wearing helmets would also be spared, he said.
Even as the city police raided a few roadside vendors selling helmets of sub-standard quality last week, complaints from consumers of sale of helmets by automobile dealers forced officials of the Labour Department to raid a dozen shops on Tuesday.
“We found that four shops were selling helmets at a premium. Capitalising on the demand and anxiety of customers, the shops sold helmets at rates over and above the MRP. We have collected receipts from customers and also the box (package) where different MRPs were printed,” the District Labour Officer, J. Kalidas, said.
Similarly, six shops were found having tampered with the declaration on the boxes. “Either the MRP on the box was struck out with marker pens or erased with blades,” Mr. Kalidas said. In some shops, the boxes did not have the complete address of manufacturers.
“Even the telephone numbers printed on the boxes were not in use. We suspect that those helmets were not genuine as per the standard quality prescribed,” he said.
Legal action would be initiated against the shops under the provisions of Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.
