Dehradun: Several states in India have decided not to implement the new Motor Vehicles Act because the fines are too steep. The latest to join the bandwagon is Uttarakhand. The Uttarakhand cabinet has cleared a proposal to reduce some of the penalties revised by the Centre for traffic rule violations under the amended Motor Vehicle Act.

Gujarat and Karnataka have already decided to reduce penalties for traffic violations under the Act.

Though the penalties for several offences under the revised act are being reduced by half, it has been decided not to relax fines for driving without wearing helmets, speeding or tripling on two wheelers, state government spokesman Madan Kaushik told reporters after a Cabinet meeting late on Wednesday evening.

The reduced penalties will come into effect after the state government issued a notification in this regard, Kaushik, who is also the state's Urban Development Minister, said.

Citing instances of the reduced penalties, Kaushik said the fine for driving by an unauthorised person or a minor earlier was Rs 1000 which was revised to Rs 5000 by the Centre recently which is being reduced to Rs 2,500.

The fine for driving while talking on a mobile handset is also being halved from Rs 5000 to Rs 2500 in the state, he said.

The penalty for using a wrong number plate in Uttarakhand will also be Rs 5000 instead Rs 10,000.

Those driving without licence in Uttarakhand will have to shell out Rs 2,500 as fine in place of Rs 5000.

The fine for not giving pass to an ambulance or fire brigade has also been amended from Rs 10,000 to Rs 5000, Kaushik said.