Kerala considers ban on selling petrol to bikers without helmet

Bengaluru: The Kerala government introduced another unconventional programme— “No Helmet-No Petrol”—on Monday to safeguard public interest after the ‘fat tax’. Bike riders, who don’t wear helmets won’t be allowed to buy fuel from petrol stations from three big cities in the state.

The government will monitor over the next 15 days whether bikers in these cities are following the rules, according to the state transport minister A. K. Saseendran.

Sensitization programmes would be held for those who flout the rules, he said. The government will offer incentives through lucky draws for law-abiding bikers. The first price is five-litre petrol, second is three lires and the third is two litres.

Once the pilot programme ends in 15 days, the state transport commissioner Tomin J. Thachankary, considered to be the brain behind the new rule—will submit a report to the government.

The government will then decide whether to follow the “no-helmet no-petrol” rule based on the report, said Saseendran.

Other states are also thinking about making helmets compulsory for bikers. Earlier this year, Karnataka made helmets compulsory for both bikers and pillion riders.

Maharashtra issued a similar notification like Kerala’s “No-helmet, No-petrol” rule in July, but was met with protests from petrol dealer’s association, Indian Express reported on 22 July.

However, some cities such as Mumbai are going ahead with its implementation starting from Monday, the daily said.

Who is responsible for the protection of a two-wheeler rider’s head had created a lot of buzz in April. The matter came to a head when the Rajasthan transport department put out a notification that made it mandatory for dealers to offer two helmets free of cost to two-wheeler buyers, according to a Mint report on 28 April.

On an average, 56 accidents take place on Indian roads every hour, claiming 16 lives, the report said. Out of them, motorbikes top the number of accident victims and a majority of them are due to inadequate protection of the head and laxity in compliance, according to experts, said the Mint report.