Governor Kiran Bedi's First Big Step: No Sirens, Right Of Way For VIPs

Pondicherry: Kiran Bedi, former top cop and now Lt Governor of Puducherry, has banned use of sirens in cars of VIPs. Her escort and pilot cars are included.

Ms Bedi ordered on Sunday that only emergency services like ambulances and fire engines will be allowed to use sirens on the roads of Puducherry.

"But for emergency services like ambulances, fire services, sirens shall not be used in the cars of VIPs," the order read.

Politicians and others must also not expect "special privileges" as they drive down the roads of the coastal union territory "such as stopping traffic of general public," Ms Bedi has ordered, to ensure that "people's right to freedom of movement is not hindered in any manner."

The Lt Governor, the release said, had also directed the police must ensure that it posts enough personnel to regulate traffic without halting it or inconveniencing commuters.

Ms Bedi, who took over as Puducherry Lt only a week ago, was also spotted yesterday joining  civic workers to lift garbage off the streets World Environment Day as part of efforts to make the Union Territory clean.

Wearing a mask, gloves and a yellow cap, the Lt Governor had removed garbage along with municipal workers at Lal Bahadhur Sastri street and Gingee Salai and vowed to do this every Sunday till Puducherry "becomes a clean city."

The cars that accompanied her to the venue of her clean-up drive had no sirens.

Ms Bedi joined the BJP last year and was projected as the party's chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi assembly elections, which were swept by the Aam Aadmi Party of Arvind Kejriwal, once Ms Bedi's colleague in a campaign against corruption.