The Hindu

• About 65,000 Mangaloreans still need helmets, say estimates
• Government should have given the people 15 more days: dealers
• Spurt in two-wheeler sales over the last six months 

Mangalore, Nov 15: Many people today cannot do without their vehicles. With every hike in the fuel prices, many try to resolve to use their vehicles sparingly, but in vain. However, in Mangalore, a situation has arisen where two-wheeler riders have been grounded for no fault of theirs — a lack of helmets.

All the shops selling helmets have run out of stocks. One of the main dealers of quality helmets (bearing the ISI mark) in Balmatta has been taking down orders and expects to get fresh stocks only by next week as they have to come from Mumbai and Noida. The State does not have a production unit that can supply helmets in huge quantities. Many other shops have sent their representatives to Haryana, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Noida in an attempt to get truckloads of helmets back to the city, as every day, thousands of riders knock on their doors asking for helmets.

According to estimates from the Automotive Parts Dealers Association, Mangalore required about 65,000 helmets, as in the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) area (where the helmet rule is being implemented), more than fifty per cent of two-wheeler riders probably already had helmets following the Government's annual "helmet scare". Also, in the last fifteen days, the city had sold about 30,000 helmets before the stocks completely ran out five days ago.

According to Regional Transport Officer (RTO) H.N. Ramesh, in Mangalore and Buntwal, there had been 1,38,925 registered two-wheeler riders by the end of October. During the April-October period, a total of 3,577 two-wheelers had been registered. In October, his office registered an average of 40 to 60 new two-wheelers. This showed that Mangalore had seen a spurt in two-wheeler sales in the last six months or so.

But the rush for helmets became especially heavy over the last fifteen days. Janardhan Bhat, who works for a local bank, was not able to take his two-wheeler to his workplace as he had not been able to buy a helmet along with his new vehicle. The same was the case with Raju Poojary, a government official.

The dealers are also not a happy lot. They say the Government should have given the people at least fifteen more days to buy helmets.

Meanwhile, the police have started cracking down on helmet-less riders, and in some cases have booked those whose helmets did not carry the ISI mark according to the Government's specifications.