Bhubaneswar: Following Union Government’s notification for implementation of the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act-2019, Odisha Commerce & Transport Department today announced that it will come into force in the State with effect from tomorrow (September 1, 2019).
This was informed by Commerce & Transport Principal Secretary G. Srinivas at a presser at Lok Seva Bhawan here.
Addressing media at the Lok Seva Bhawan, the Commerce & Transport Principal Secretary informed, “As a measure of road safety, the fines and penalties for different motor vehicle offences to act a deterrent against traffic violations. Stricter provisions are being proposed in respect of offences like drunken driving, driving without licence, dangerous driving, over-speeding, overloading, driving without helmet and seat belts etc have been increased drastically along with provisions for electronic detection of violations.”
“New penalties for juvenile driving have been introduced to penalize the guardian/owner of the vehicle for such offence,” he stated.
He further informed, “To help the road accident victims, new amendment has provision for Good Samaritan to prevent harassment for such help rendered during emergency. The cashless treatment for accident victims during golden hour has been introduced. Also the Act has provision for third party insurance for hit and run cases to the costs for compensation for the victims and provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users.”
He added, “The Act provides online services for DL to bring transparency in RTo offices and ensure automated fitness testing for vehicles. Driving training process has been strengthened for issue of licenses for transport vehicles.”
Besides, the Odisha Chief Secretary has written to the DGP today, “In case of drunken driving, instructions are already issued vide Home Department letter No. 1986 dated 13.08.2019 to invoke inherent powers with police conferred under Section-202 and 203 of MV Act to arrest people indulging in drunken driving. This may be carried out immediately.”