Break a rule, plant a tree: Telangana district's unique penalty
Synopsis
Traffic rule violators will now have to plant a sapling or two at the area of offence so the growing plant would stand as a constant reminder of the offence.
The Hyderabad traffic police drew a lot of flak after the tragic death of Ramya and her family members, caused by a drunken driving accident and were forced to rethink the effectiveness of their traffic laws and punitive measures.
The district superintendent of police Rema Rajeshwari chose the ‘plant a tree’ rule as a tool to reform traffic offenders.
The district police’s green approach hopes to inculcate social responsibility among those who violate traffic laws.
“Around 80 per cent of those involved in accidents are drunk and the rest are minors. Apart from booking cases under the Motor Vehicle Act, sapling planting is made part of the reform program with the hope that the growing tree will leave a lasting impression in the minds of the offenders,” Rema told Asianet Newsable from Mahbubnagar.
The Mahbubnagar district in Telangana earned notoriety for the alarming number of road accidents.
Drunk-driving along with other traffic offences along national and state highways have kept the graph of growing accident deaths in the district ever scaling upwards.
The Four National Highways (NH 44-173 km; NH167-101 km; NH765-148 km; NH 150-12km) and seven state highways, see the maximum number of road accidents and deaths in Telangana.
According to Rema, the number of accidents and consequent deaths are on a steep rise in the district.
“The number of accidents and deaths on the roads of the district has gone up from 1498 and 632 respectively in 2011 to 1961 and 885 in 2015. In 2016, 56 people died in 146 accidents in January while 77 in 173 accidents in June. This warrants a serious integrated approach to prevent accidents. This led to the launch of ‘Rahadari Naa Nestham’ (Road is my Friend) program with the ingredients of 3Es (Engineering, Enforcement and Education),” the SP said
The tree had been chosen as the living tool that could stress the importance of giving life and its preservation. Both, the RTA and R&B have been roped in to implement 3E program, Rema added.
The ‘plant a sapling’ programme, that was started two days ago, has been received well by the violators.
On the first day, about 150 offenders planted 400 saplings. This program will be extended to all police station limits and implemented vigorously; she said, adding that participation was voluntary.
The enthusiasm demonstrated by traffic offenders to plant trees was quite encouraging, the SP said. The police are hopeful of achieving some breakthrough with regards to a change in people’s attitudes towards flouting traffic norms and drunk-driving.