Out beacon lights and sirens, in lathis and whistles ? Suffering VIPsm
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 19 , 2014 -

In line with the ruling of the Supreme Court of India, passed on December 10, 2013, the State Cabinet has decided to strip the use of red beacon lights and sirens from the vehicles of a number of people who come or assume that they come under the rare breed called the VVIPs/VIPs.

This is a welcome move, but there still remains the question of whether the intrinsic meaning behind the directives of the Supreme Court will sink into the thick heads of those who have been using the sirens and the red beacon lights all these years.

Apart from seeking to deal with the nuisance created by the blaring sirens and swirling red lights atop the vehicles of numerous class of people who come under the tag of VVIPs/VIPs, the directive of the Supreme Court and hence the decision of the State Cabinet should be also be seen in the context of the point that no one has the right of way and cannot violate traffic norms, such as the one way route.

The important question is whether this has registered in the minds of the babudom, especially the police officials, high and petty, and political netas who will no longer have the ‘luxury’ of blaring their way through the crowded roads of Imphal and other parts of the State.

It is a pity but not surprising that the State Cabinet failed or did not care to spell out the finer nuances of the decision to strip the red beacon lights and sirens from the vehicles of VVIPs/VIPs, with the exception of the Governor, Chief Minister, Speaker of the Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister and the Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court.

In such a scenario, do not be surprised if the sirens and the red beacon lights are replaced by security escorts of these VVIPs/VIPs and high ranking Government officials using whistles and waving lathis to tell the public to make way for their boss, no matter how congested the road may be.

The same thing may be said of the security forces, the Assam Rifles, the Army, the CRPF, BSF etc.

These observations are not plucked from thin air and for evidences just take a look at any of the crowded roads in Imphal.

Heavy vehicles of the security forces, such as the Assam Rifles and the Army parked plumb in the middle of the busy Thangal Keithel and Paona Keithel and along the Khoyathong road, especially near Jalan Provision stores are daily spectacles.

Police commandos in their fancy bikes zooming around Imphal city, violating the one way traffic norms, security forces barking out orders to make way for their officers are daily occurrences in Imphal city.

Nothing can be more humiliating than to be waved away by some security personnel waving a lathi with their heads popping out from the roof top of the pilot vehicle, so that their bosses or even their spouses can have a smooth ride to their destination.

During an interaction programme or more specifically during a dinner hosted by the then GOC of 57 Mountain Division Major General DS Hooda some years back, The Sangai Express took the opportunity of pointing out the menace created by his men on the roads.

The gentleman that he was, Mr Hooda assured that he would personally see to it that his men (read officers and personnel of 57 Mountain Division, that is the Army) stop this trend.

There was a perceptible change after this, but it lasted only during the tenure of Mr Hooda and now it is back to square one.

There is the need to go beyond the decision of the State Cabinet and the ruling of the Supreme Court to restrict the use of red beacon lights and sirens by the VVIPs/VIPs and that is no one has the right of way.

Driving through the roads of Imphal can at times be a humiliating experience for the common people for being shooed away like a stray dog by some lathi wielding security personnel or whistled off to make way for their officers come close to reducing the common people to the status of insects on the roads !

The red beacon lights and sirens may be removed, but it is more than likely that they would be replaced by waving lathis and ear piercing whistles.