Netas irresponsible in protesting helmet rule

The Pune city police chief has made helmets compulsory for motorists in the city, but some political parties would rather not wear them. A Pune report in this paper detailed how several parties like the Shiv Sena, MNS, Congress and NCP raised hell during a recent rally by wearing historical 'caps' instead of helmets. They even paid the e-challan amount for not wearing helmets. More than 100 protesters, who had united under the umbrella of the 'Helmet Virodhi Samiti' participated in the rally from Ghanje chowk to the Pune police commissioner's office.

They wore pagadis worn by Mahatma Phule, Shindes and Peshwas. An MNS party person said helmets should not be made compulsory and accused officials of trying to extort money in the guise of this rule. Even other political parties slammed this as an excuse for extortion while a police officer claimed that they had made a rule which the majority approves of and there have already been a large number of people fined. It is inexcusable that political parties mislead people by telling them to go against a rule made for their safety.

The helmet rule is to safeguard bikers and any traffic expert can tell you the huge amount of deaths that have happened simply because the rider has not worn a helmet. Any rider who has been saved from death because his head was sheathed by a helmet, will vouch for its necessity. If, as political parties claim, it is an excuse for extortion, people can file complaints against cops who demand money. This is certainly no basis for going against a good, much-needed helmet law. Netas who are rabblerousing and encouraging people to break the law need to be booked.

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