Clean And Silent Aizawl

By Santanu Ghosh

No HONKING

Aizawl, Jul 24 : The streets of Aizawl may soon become silent and hassle-free if the Mizoram police have their way.

The police here are keen to enforce a no-honking code for motorists in this capital town having a total population of 2.5 lakh where about 58,000 vehicles ply.

Aizawl’s superintendent of police (traffic) Lalbiakzama today said apart from the no- honking regulation, their other priority is to enforce a phased crackdown on errant carowners who tend to park their vehicles without permission, leading to congestion in many streets of Aizawl.

Before beginning the crackdown, however, Lalbiakzama said the police would undertake an extensive awareness campaign in colleges regarding traffic rules and proper parking methods for motorcycles and cars.

Lalbiakzama, with this in mind, is regularly meeting students in colleges and Mizoram Central University to educate them on the dos and don’ts of traffic rules.

The superintendent of police held a meeting with the students at Aizawl College today. He told the students that the city’s traffic police had already observed a no honking day on May 25 on an experimental basis.

Unnecessary honking, he said, had become a menace in the other metros and towns in the country. However, the streets of Mizoram, he added, were very quiet by comparison as the motorists have already learnt to behave well.

Mizoram’s director general of police Lalrokhuma Pachuau told The Telegraph today that the police would allow honking during an emergency, but would definitely come down hard on motorists who indulge in making an unnecessary ruckus just to get a quick passage.

He said illegal parking along congested arterial routes here resulted in unnecessary traffic congestion.

Pachuau said the residents of Aizawl have this “propensity” for not acquiring garages to park their vehicles even though highrise buildings that have now come up in the town have such spaces. The owners, he said, have the habit of letting these spaces out to accommodate shops on rent. A proper campaign, he said, was necessary to avoid such annoying practices.

via The Telegraph India