MAYOR RAJESH Kalia’s act of a chowkidar patrolling the city on an Activa late on Sunday night, went awry with the UT Traffic Police deciding to initiate action against him for violating traffic rules. Kalia had removed his helmet partly to get himself filmed and talk on the video while on the scooter. Advertising In the 53-second video, a person is seen introducing Kalia, who is riding with a helmet. The person says, “Hamare sath Chandigarh ke Mayor Shree Rajesh Kalia ji hain. Chandigarh ka daura kar rahe hain. Rajesh ji kuch kehna chahenge aap kya.” Kalia then pushes his helmet back and says, “Pata lage Chandigarh ke logon ko kis tarah saadgi jeevan sabse best jeevan hai, kyunki maine ek hi baat logon se kahi hai ki jeevan ke andar Chandigarh ki seva karne aaya hun to nagar sevak ban kar. Jis tarike se hamare desh ke pradhan mantri ji desh ko batate hain chowkidar ki paribhasha, is tarike se main nagar sevak ban kar logon ki seva karna chahta hun, na ki mayor ban ke gadiyon mein ghoomna gunman ke sath (Let the people of Chandigarh know how a simple life is the best. I have always maintained that. I have got this opportunity to serve the people of Chandigarh as a nagar sevak. The way the Prime Minister describes himself as a chowkidar of the people, I too want to tell everyone that I want to serve people as their nagar sevak instead of becoming a mayor and travelling in cars with gunmen).” Kalia is then seen making a halt at a traffic light point. The other person making the video adds, “Bahut badiya. To ye Chandigarh ke Mayor hain, jo Activa khud chala ke Chandigarh ka daura kar rahe hain. Inse acha Mayor koi ho hi nahi sakta.” However, Chandigarh Congress posted the video in its Twitter handle, saying “Traffic rules ki dhajjiyan udate Chandigarh ke pratham nagarik (first citizen) — mayor Rajesh Kalia ji. Kya traffic police mayor dwara kiye traffic niyamo ki avhelna pe action legi (Here is the city mayor throwing traffic rules to the winds. Will the traffic police inititate any action against him)?” SSP (Traffic) Shashank Anand, while talking to Chandigarh Newsline, said, “We received the video through social media. We have asked the sender to provide us time, date and location of the incident so that we can initiate legal action as per the Motor Vehicle Act.” Anand added, “All such pictures/videos are treated as per Section 133 of the MV Act as per which a notice is sent to the owner of the violating vehicle to disclose the name and contact of the driver so that a challan can be issued to him/her.” Advertising Traffic officials said that Kalia will be fined for not wearing his helmet properly. Also, when asked about the video, a traffic official said that using a mobile phone while driving is a violation. Following this bout of criticism for violating traffic rules, Kalia’s campaign turned into a routine drive. When contacted, Kalia said, “I was just going back to my official residence in Sector 24 from the Sector 18 Sangh office around 10 pm when another rider started asking me questions. If someone asks me a question, won’t I answer? And to do that, I moved back my helmet only a little.”

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