Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: Dent vehicle bonnets to discipline violators

BENGALURU: A tweet by Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw suggesting traffic police “dent the bonnets of erring drivers with lathis” to enforce lane discipline and ensure elimination of gridlocks had Twitterati taking exception to the aggressive nature of her prescription and offering suggestions for the problem.

“If our traffic police can enforce lane discipline like they do in Chennai & Mumbai half of Bengaluru’s traffic gridlock will be eliminated. All they need is to dent the bonnets of erring drivers with lathis n then no one will err,” Shaw tweeted, tagging @nblrcitytraffic, @CMofKarnataka and @BPACofficial.



Netizens, though, were not amused. “Dent bonnets? That’s a bit aggressive... right? Fine them heavily on the spot after doing an education drive for a month. The suggestion u r giving might eventually become a law and order situation,” tweeted Raj Nair.

Shaw, however, defended her prescription. “Not at all. In Mumbai n Chennai that’s what they do n no driver dares to break lane discipline — that’s the only thing that will work. Measures like warnings n fines don’t work,” she tweeted in reply.

“I am a Mumbaikar and can proudly say most folks do maintain lane discipline. If there are folks who break lane or do wrong side driving, they are dealt as per law. In certain suburbs, locals adopt such measures of denting bonnets when things go out of hand,” Nair tweeted again.

“Do not agree to the approach of denting the cars. The right approach could be to improve public commuting and build good infrastructure with electronic tracking of erring cars,” tweeted Vijay Singhal.

Twitter user Vivin had a detailed response: “I agree the issue is serious, but your suggestion is ridiculous. It’s equivalent to saying “punch the mouths of anyone who spits in public places”. Embracing technology is the best way forward here (cameras can detect erring vehicles via number plates).”

In 2018, Bengaluru traffic police booked 3.8 lakh cases against lane violators, compared to 3.9 lakh in 2016 and 4.5 lakh in 2017. Though the number of cases has come down, sources in the department say lane-discipline violations are mostly ignored.