The Motor Vehicle department’s act of destroying seized air horns by crushing them with a road roller in various parts of Kochi has triggered a debate on the intention behind the move. The MVD on Monday crushed hundreds of air horns before the media near the Ernakulam KSRTC bus stand, Paravur, and Mattanchery.
The MVD had recently launched an intensive drive to crack down on the use of high-decibel air horns following instructions from Transport Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar. He had ordered MVD officials to confiscate air horns from vehicles and destroy them in public after he got miffed at aggressive honking by a seemingly impatient heavy-vehicle driver during a public event recently.
Congress leader Jyothikumar Chamakkala, who contested unsuccessfully against Ganesh Kumar in the 2021 Assembly polls, was among those who took exception to the MVD’s action. Alleging that a road roller used to crush the air horns lacked pollution certificate, he said the MVD was allowing air pollution in the name of curbing sound pollution.
Meanwhile, the MVD has defended the action citing the strong intention behind it. “The law does not say that seized illegal items should not be destroyed. The Minister must have wanted to send out a strong message to the public against the offence,” an MVD official said. He added that the MVD used to destroy illegal items, including air horns seized from vehicles, after keeping them at the department’s store rooms for some time.
