In a major decision, the Union Cabinet today decided that beacon light will be removed from all vehicles
Following the announcement made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that lal batti or red beacons will be banned for everybody including the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar have both removed red beacon light from their official cars today.
"Maharashtra welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's step towards ending VIP culture by stopping the use of red beacons atop VIP vehicles," Fadnavis said in a tweet.
"And to celebrate such epic step for strengthening our democracy, I have stopped using the RedBeacon atop my car," he said in another tweet.
Meanwhile, a senior official from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said, "The Chief minister has removed red beacon light from his official car. The instructions are also issued to all the Cabinet ministers to remove the beacons from their official cars."
Speaking to reporters, Parrikar said, "I believe that the VIP culture has to be reduced. Except for the PM and the President, there is no requirement of red beacon mounted cars."
Maharashtra state Congress president and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan welcomed the decision to end the VIP culture, saying that it was a good decision.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde said the decision to end VIP culture was first taken by Amarinder Singh in Punjab.
"It is good the entire country is following suit. Since the post of Leader of Opposition is a cabinet rank, I will also give up my red beacon car," he said.
Mr Munde said VIP culture will not end with just the removing red beacons from cars, but foreign tours and felicitation functions of ministers should also stop.
In a major decision, the Union Cabinet today decided that beacon light will be removed from all vehicles, including that of the the President, the Prime Minister and chief ministers of states.
The move is aimed at putting an end to the VIP culture, ubiquitous in India.
Goa state ministers Vijai Sardesai and Rohan Khuante, who were present at a meeting with the chief minister, also asked their staff to immediately remove red beacons from their cars.
(With inputs from PTI)