Punjab govt puts on hold its order on mandatory auto dippers

The Punjab Transport Department has put on hold its order on mandatory fitting of auto dipper system in vehicles following Centre's directive to revoke the notification, an official spokesperson said today.
The department, however, accused the Union Government of doing "flip-flop" on the issue of road safety.
"The Ministry of Surface Transport had inserted Rule 125 which said that in every motor vehicle other than a motor cycle and three wheeler of engine capacity not exceeding 500cc shall be equipped with an auto-dipper."
"But later suddenly withdrew it without seeking any comments from the state governments," the spokesperson of the department claimed.

He further accused the Union Surface Transport Ministry of taking an "ambivalent" stand on the issue of human safety especially in light of rising vehicular traffic.
The Punjab government had made the installation of auto dippers mandatory on February 27.
Following which, the Union Transport Ministry asked the state government to revoke the order citing that the notification flouted the Central Motor Vehicle Rules.
The spokesperson alleged that Union Government instead of taking macro view on this issue of road safety should have a taken a micro view and sought the suggestions of all stake holders including states so that human safety aspect was not ignored.