The Maharashtra transport department has made it compulsory for the taxis operating in the state to have ‘speed governors’, an official said.
The speed governor is a device to measure and regulate the speed of a vehicle.
Notably, the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) in January this year said that the Supreme Court had in 2002 and 2009 issued notifications vide fitment of speed governors in all commercial vehicles, but the directions were not followed by states.
“To follow the orders of the Government of India, our department issued a notice yesterday and it is also uploaded on the website of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways,” state transport commissioner Praveen Gedam said.
“Now all the passenger and goods vehicles need to have a speed limiting device,” he said.
He said the order to make speed governors mandatory has been issued after a recent amendment to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules.
The taxi owners and drivers have, however, opposed the decision and threatened to launch a stir if the speed governors are made compulsory.
Mumbai Taximen’s Union leader A L Quadros said, “This decision has been taken under pressure from the manufacturers of speed governors. We are going to meet the transport commissioner to put forward our concerns and demand to roll it back.”
“If the government remains adamant, then we will come on the roads to protest against it,” he said.
A senior official from the transport department rejected the claims of the taximen’s union and said it was a Central order which they were only implementing.
According to NRSC, the first six states on high road accident list are Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Haryana.
