Bengaluru, May 22: Three days after taking oath as chief minister, Siddaramaiah has directed the traffic police not to provide him zero traffic facility.
“I know whenever my convoy passes, traffic is stopped for several minutes. I don’t want that to happen anymore. Cancel zero traffic facility for me,” Siddaramaiah has told the city police.
The chief minister had told the DG & IGP also to send similar instructions to all district SPs to follow suit whenever he visits different parts of the state.
According to Siddaramaiah, there has been exponential increase in the volume of traffic and the people wait in signal lights for more than 180 seconds.
“And due to congestion, the traffic moves slow. The rains add to the misery of the vehicle users. In these circumstances, if traffic is held up for several minutes on account of my travel, the people will be put to hardship. Hence, I have decided to do away with the zero traffic facility,” Siddaramaiah has said.
It may be recalled the then chief minister J.H.Patel had also done away with zero traffic provision for him.
“I will travel with the people. I am not anything special,” Patel used to say. When his attention was drawn towards the security concerns, Patel had quipped, “Nobody will waste a bullet on me. Don’t worry”
Now Siddaramaiah has decided to follow Patel with respect to refusing zero traffic provision.
It remains to be seen how the security establishment of the chief minister considers this instructions of Siddaramaiah.
EOM
