People clash with police over hefty traffic fines in

Several persons were injured in a clash between a group of people and police in the city over imposition of heavy fines on violators of traffic rules under the new motor vehicles act.

The incident occurred at Raj Mahal square when commuters gheraoed on-duty traffic policemen and protested against collection of fines which they termed "hefty", police said.

When the traffic police asked commuters to furnish documents of their vehicles, several of them, in turn, started demanding paper of a police vehicle from the traffic officers, police said.

The crowd allegedly recovered two liquor bottles from the police vehicle, though a senior police officer claimed these were seized during a search on Friday.

Police resorted to batton charge to disperse the crowd after they started pelting stones on traffic guards, the officer said, adding that "several people and policemen were injured" in the incident.

Agitators claimed government's vehicles were not stopped for checking documents.

"Why are there two laws, one for police vehicles and another for the public?" said a woman who was asked to pay fine for not wearing the seat belt while driving.

Police Commissioner of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Sudhansu Sarangi said, "The situation is under control. A drunk auto- rickshaw driver was penalised with Rs 47,500 on Wednesday and Rs 5,000 each was collected from two persons for speaking on mobile phones while driving. No one else has been fined above Rs 1,000."