761 violations in three days: this tourist season, Ladakh is fighting traffic challenge

Leh: With mercury on an unprecedented upward trend in most of north India, thousands of tourists are rushing to Ladakh every day to beat the scorching heat and this is posing a challenge on the roads.

The Civil Administration, Police and Traffic authorities in addition to mobilising their manpower to regulate traffic are also busy causing awareness for civilised and responsible driving.

The Ladakh traffic police has collected over Rs 1.50 crore as fines for rules violations till April-end, following which the authorities launched a traffic rules enforcement drive ahead of the tourist season, officials said.

A fine of Rs 1,57,25,750 has been collected by the traffic authorities till the end of April 2022 for different traffic violations, a traffic police officer said.

Also, 761 traffic challans were issued and a fine of Rs 2,82,000 was collected from the violators in the last three days, he said.

On May 28, the traffic police launched a special drive against rules violations, such as over-speeding, dangerous driving, driving without a licence and wrong parking in the Leh and Kargil districts.

To ensure smooth execution of the drive, special check-points have been established at different places like on the Kargil-Drass road, the Kargil-Sankoo road, the Kargil-Leh road, the Leh-Nubra road, the Leh-Upshi road and the Leh-Kargil road, the officials said.

The traffic authorities have also introduced modern traffic gadgets, including speed radar guns, Alcometer for better execution and enforcement of the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA).

“The enforcement drive against traffic violations has been intensified given the rise in motor transport vehicles during the upcoming tourist season”, the officer said.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Traffic, Mohd Rafi Giri said special drives will be carried out against drunk driving, road rage, off-road driving, dangerous driving and using high-beam lights.