Motorists at several traffic junctions in the city on Sunday were surprised to find ‘Lord Yama’ waiting to ‘club’ traffic rule violators with his mace but were saved by the timely advice of the volunteers of Thozhan Trust.
The volunteers of Thozhan organised this skit, aimed at building awareness on traffic rules, at more than 100 traffic signals, advising motorists without helmets or those talking on mobile phones while driving in an attempt to prevent accidents.
The volunteers also distributed awareness pamphlets as part of the Accident Free Nation campaign. With display boards highlighting the need to maintain lane discipline, avoid mobile phones while driving and to wear seatbelts made motorists follow traffic rules and regulations. The volunteers also pasted bull’s eye stickers on more than 75,000 vehicles to prevent accidents during night-time driving.
Radhakrishnan, organiser of Thozhan Trust, said more than 2,500 volunteers took part in the campaign.
The third edition of the annual traffic awareness campaign also saw Thozhan Trust entering the India Book of Records for the largest awareness drive.
Not all that convenient
If online booking of railway tickets has made it convenient for passengers, it has also brought in a number of other issues too, as a senior citizen found out.
A resident of the city’s suburbs, he had booked tickets for himself and his wife to travel on Cholan Express on Sunday. At the time of booking, his ticket was in waiting list and it did not get confirmed even at the time of departure, being a Sunday.
Though he travelled along with his wife in the general compartment of the same train, much to his shock, the amount, which ought to have been refunded automatically to his bank account, is yet to be credited back. Further, on contacting Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), he got the response that as he had ‘cancelled’ his ticket, he was not eligible for reimbursement.
The passenger tried explaining that he did not cancel the ticket, but that his ticket continued to be on the waiting list and that it was not confirmed even after preparation of the chart. He had to buy a fresh ticket to travel in the general coach.
Railway officials said that as per rules, people cannot travel on general compartments with a wait-listed ticket. However, Railways had to return the fare to the passenger as the ticket was not confirmed. There might be a technical delay in this particular case and if the issue was not resolved, the passenger could take up the case with the commercial department, the officials added.
(Reporting by
R. Srikanth and
K. Manikandan)
