New Delhi/Mumbai: The government on Wednesday decided it was time for the “laal batti” culture to go for good, with the Union Cabinet clearing the proposal that red beacon lights will not be used by anybody from May 1 onwards, including VVIPs like the Prime Minister, President and judges.
Only emergency vehicles — ambulances and fire brigades — have been allowed to use the blue beacon light. Hours after presiding over the Cabinet meeting where the decision was taken, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Every Indian is special. Every Indian is a VIP.”
Responding to several praiseworthy tweets on the decision, he further tweeted, “It should have gone long ago. Glad that today a strong beginning has been made.”
Ministers remove beacons after Cabinet meeting
Minutes after the Cabinet meeting, several Cabinet ministers, like women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi and road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, removed the red beacon light from their vehicles. In fact, junior minister Giriraj Singh could be seen in a video removing the beacon light from his vehicle personally amid applause from his staff and onlookers.
Interestingly, information and broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu has never used a beacon light on his vehicles.
Briefing media after the Cabinet meeting, finance minister Arun Jaitley said that the rule pertaining to use of red beacon lights — (Rule 108 [1] and [2]) — has been virtually scrapped from the Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989. Necessary amendments will be made to implement the decision, he said.
Official sources said that since only a rule has to be removed, it can be done through an executive order. Sources said, Modi was always been emphatic about ending the ‘lal batti culture’. Modi had shown his disapproval last week, when his convoy moved through ‘normal traffic’ without any route restrictions or road blocks to the Delhi airport to receive Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from the airport.
Maharashtra CM removes red beacon from his car
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday removed the red beacon from his official car, in the wake of the Union Cabinet’s decision to take the beacon off all the vehicles, including that of the Prime Minister.
“Maharashtra welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s step towards ending VIP culture by stopping the use of red beacons atop VIP vehicles,” Fadnavis said in a tweet.
“And to celebrate such epic step for strengthening our democracy, I have stopped using the RedBeacon atop my car,” (sic) he said in another tweet.
Meanwhile, state Congress chief and former CM Ashok Chavan welcomed the decision to end the VIP culture. Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde said the decision to end VIP culture was first taken by Amarinder Singh in Punjab.
