The No Helmet No Petrol rule dies a premature death in Kolkata

KOLKATA: The No Helmet No Petrol campaign has died a premature death similar to the thousands of lives that are lost on the roads every year and which the initiative was precisely designed to prevent.
In July, the state government had instructed petrol pumps within the city that a biker without a helmet or one with a pillion rider not wearing the headgear should not be sold petrol at any petrol pump in Kolkata.
The campaign was designed as a deterrent to make the streets safer and two-wheeler rides less risky. So far 80 riders have lost their lives on the roads. Several hundreds have been critically injured in accidents involving two-wheelers. Seven people died only during the four days of Durga Puja.
No Helmet No Petrol had become a catchphrase three months ago after chief minister Mamata Banerjee instructed the cops to crackdown on bikers without helmets and told them that lawlessness on the roads should not be tolerated. From billboards to Metro Rail, from puja pandals to petrol pumps, within days the campaign was everywhere.
The cops started cracking down on violators and slapping cases. But within three months, the entire buzz around the campaign has gone missing. But three months down the line, the dangerous roads of the city tell a different story.
Firstly, the petrol pumps are back at selling petrol to even those bikers not wearing the headgear. The rule is being flouted daily and rampantly. On Monday TOI spotted atleast 10 bikers without helmet buying petrol from atleast three pumps in central Kolkata.
The attitude of the traffic police towards the offenders on the roads also suggests that they have relaxed slapping cases on the violators. On several busy intersections on Monday afternoon, bikers without helmets sped past the traffic sergeants, but the men in uniform did precious little to penalise them. Nobody in the force was however willing to confirm that the police had relaxed penalising the offenders.
But the petrol pump owners were not so discreet. When TOI asked them why they were not following the No Helmet No Petrol rule, they pleaded helplessness. “When the chief minister started this campaign there was very strict vigilance by the police for obvious reason. Sergeants would come to the pumps and caution the employees against giving petrol to riders without helmets. But for the past one month we have no cops coming and telling us anything. So why should we get into any argument with our customers,” said the owner of a petrol pump on Ganesh Chandra Avenue.
Another owner of a pump in Entally said that it was impossible for him to conduct business if he refused petrol to bikers without helmet.
“Every day hundreds of bikers come here to buy petrol but hardly anybody wears helmet. If we insist on helmets, bikers start creating trouble. We are here to conduct our business. If we keep fighting with every offender, it will become impossible to conduct business,” said the owner.
The police had gone on an overdrive after the chief minister instructed them to rein in errant bikers. They put up check posts across the city, started slapping cases and keeping a close eye on the petrol pumps. But signs of the same hyperactivity are missing on the streets now.
“We are helpless and overburdened. With so many state programmes, festivals and VIP movements, it is impossible to track who is violating the helmet rule. To enforce the no helmet, no petro rule, we will have to station a sergeant outside every petrol pump. It is impossible,” said a senior officer of the traffic department.