THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police usually have both hard and soft approaches while dealing with law and order issues. In the initial hours of Tuesday, the first day of the lockdown, the cops here chose to play it soft, requesting commuters venturing out in private vehicles without any valid reason to return home.
But a section of the public chose to overlook the directive and soon the roads in the capital city were flooded with vehicles.
On Wednesday, however, the number of people defying the lockdown came down drastically. The city police officials said the number of offenders fell by about 50 percent after they switched gears and began to crack the whip.
City commissioner IG Balram Kumar Upadhyay led from the front after instructions flew from the Police Headquarters to get tough against the offenders. On Wednesday, the police continued registering cases and also issued notices to vehicle owners warning them to stay home or be ready to get their vehicle registration cancelled.
The notices were issued under the Motor Vehicle Act Section 52 (i). The police said vehicle registration of repeat offenders will be cancelled without any fresh intimation. Though the police are yet to issue an official statement, the number of cases registered against offenders crossed the 200-mark by noon.
Police sources said vehicles were being not seized now as it would lead to further crowding at police stations. Instead, many of those driving without any valid reasons were issued fines.
The demand for special passes soared after the police made it clear that those who are working in the emergency sector should get these to travel unhindered.
The rush of applicants finally prompted the cops to relax the rules. The Police Headquarters issued a release which said people employed in various sectors such as medical labs, petrol pumps, private health care sector staff, mobile tower technicians etc need not carry the passes. Instead, they can use their identity cards while on travel.
However, for the rest of the public who venture out in their vehicles for emergency needs, they need to keep a self-signed declaration citing the purpose of the journey and the time of their return.