CHANDIGARH, Punjab—Henceforth, barring DGPs, Additional DGPs, IGs (Zonal) and SSPs, no police officer will be allowed to sport a red light on his vehicle. A notification issued by the Transport Department on July 5 says the facility will be available to 13 categories of citizens.
Besides the Governor, Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, ministers, chief parliamentary secretaries, Speaker/Deputy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Judges, Leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha, Members of Parliament from the state, Chief Secretary, Finance, Principal Secretaries and Administrative Secretaries, the Advocate-General and chairmen of boards will be entitled to the facility.
At the district level, the District and Sessions Judge, Divisional Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Income Tax Commissioner, State Transport Commissioner and Mayors have been allowed the facility.
Psuedo-Sant Mann Pehowawala, Niranjan Das, Hansaliwale, SAD leader Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, Vice Chancellors, Director General School Education (DGSE), Chief Information Commissioner Rameshinder Singh, Chief Commissioner, Right to Service Commission, and Commissioner, Electricity Regulatory Commission, will no longer enjoy the facility.
A large section of police officers will also be affected by the notification. Range DIGs and IGs, except zonal, have been barred from putting the red light atop their vehicles and so have district planning chiefs.
The state government has also denied the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Avtar Singh Makkar, of the facility.
A senior official expressed surprise that the Transport Department had earlier allowed even jathedars of Takht Patna Sahib and Takht Hazur Sahib to use red lights atop their vehicles.
