Demonetisation: Cops not to fine traffic offenders for 2 days in Ahmedabad, Surat

Ahmedabad: In a bid to provide relief to people hit by the government’s sudden move to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, city traffic police decided not to collect fines from offenders for two days starting today.

The decision has been taken on “humanitarian” ground keeping in mind the shortage of currency notes having smaller denominations, said Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, S G Trivedi.

“We realised that people are running short of currency notes with denomination of Rs 100 or less in the current scenario. Banks and ATM centres are also closed. Hence, citizens may face more trouble if we collect those Rs 100 notes from them by handing over them penalty memo for violating traffic rules,” said Trivedi.

“Considering this situation, we have decided not to collect any fine for two days- today and tomorrow – from traffic violators. Instead, our staff would give them stern warning. If needed, we would give them court memo, whereby offenders are not required to pay cash on the spot and can deposit money later in the court,” he added.

At an ATM of a private bank in Lajpat Nagar last night, a huge had crowd gathered, following which the ATM had to be shut down, police said.

“There was a huge chaos at an ATM near the Lajpat Nagar metro station. Police security is likely to be stepped up, since law and order should not be disturbed,” a police officer said.

Many ATMs in the city last night also faced server error due to huge traffic while many went out of order.

PTI