Chhattisgarh yet to implement amended Motor Vehicles Act

The Congress government in Chhattisgarh is yet to implement the new penalty provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.

Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu said on Saturday that the state government was studying the new amendments before they were implemented, so that people may not bear the brunt of the newly-introduced hefty fines.

"We have been studying the provisions of the amended act. It has been asked (by the Union government) to implement it all over the county, but we are studying it, keeping in view the situation in Chhattisgarh," Sahu told reporters here.

"It should not have hefty fines....The state government is examining in which form the act can be implemented. We are also looking at whether the state government can make amendments to it," the minister added.

An official of the Road Transport Department said the the amended act has been sent to the state's Law and Legislative Affairs department.

The law department will submit a report following which the decision on implementation will be taken, he said.

Parliament, in July, passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

Under the new law, people will be fined Rs 10,000 for drunken driving. Earlier the fine was Rs 2,000.

The fine for rash driving has gone up from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000. Fines of other offences have been similarly increased.