Hyderabad: Self proclaimed VIPs roam city roads with impunity. Many private vehicles in the city sport prominent labels of their professions or names of government departments they work for. Some instances include advocate, doctor, Army, Defence, Police, Press, GHMC, HMWSSB, Corporator, member or president of some NGO or human rights committee, president of some private club among others.
Not just working professionals but even retired government officials show off their earlier stints such as ‘former MLA’ or ‘former corporator’ or retired IAS. Even vehicles owned by government display names of the department which hired them or mention ‘Government of India’. While displaying such information anywhere on a vehicle except on the number plate is not a crime, many people display fake information.
A.V. Ranganath, deputy commissioner of police, Traffic, says, “If a person driving a vehicle with the name of some profession or government department displayed on it is caught by the police, he should be in possession of proof to support the claim being made on the vehicle. If not, he can be booked for cheating by impersonation.”
Another issue faced by cops is high-handedness. A traffic constable said, “Stopping motorists with professions displayed on their vehicles is a real pain for us. Many times drivers fail to provide any identity card to prove their profession and also behave in a highhanded manner.”
“If we stop a doctor for talking on the phone while driving, he will say that he was on a call regarding an urgent operation. When advocates are stopped, they try to teach us the law instead of accepting their fault” he complained.
The ‘Press’ sticker should be carried only by journalists but even those who deliver newspapers or own a printing press have the sticker on their vehicle, he said.
