Hyderabad: Blatant hooliganism by those who believe their political connections will protect them is frequently seen on city roads. In Banjara Hills Road No. 12, on a scorching Monday afternoon, a young man driving a white Scorpio, with a Member of Parliament gate-pass stuck on it, brought traffic to a halt while trying to enter a hotel gate by driving on the wrong side of the road.
When the driver of an RTC bus upbraided the young man for such indisciplined driving, the youngster arrogantly parked his vehicle in the middle of the road and challenged the bus driver to move it, causing a huge traffic jam.
No policeman was at hand, but one eyewitnesses decided to take up the issue.
“I saw a young man in a white Scorpio AP29 AV 4799 blocking the entire road with his car. He was trying to approach a hotel by going on the wrong side and on being questioned by the bus driver, just arrogantly parked his car,” said Nandini Reddy, a film director.
“After I turned my car back to pursue the matter, a couple of cops arrived while the vehicle was parked in the premises of the adjacent hotel,” she added. Ms Reddy accompanied the traffic policemen into the hotel to discover the identity of the culprit, but the staff refused to identify him.
“The hotel management feigned ignorance as to the whereabouts of the driver. The cops promised to file a complaint if I was ready to sign it, to which I agreed. What shocked me was that not one person there had the guts to confront this guy. If we see such goondaism on our streets it’s our fault because we don’t react,” she said.
When Deccan Chronicle checked with the traffic cops the next day about what action they had taken, they claimed ignorance.
Banjara Hills traffic inspector C. Umamaheshwar Rao said, “It did not come to my notice. However, I’ll check with my officials.”
