The Andhra Pradesh government, in a bid to end VIP culture in the state, has banned the use of blue beacons and hooters on all vehicles except those that deal with emergency and disaster management services.
The ban follows the Centre's decision to prohibit the use of red beacons by VIPs like politicians, police officers and bureaucrats.
Govt of Andhra Pradesh issues order banning use of blue beacon& hooters;only emergency&disaster management vehicles allowed to use hooters. pic.twitter.com/3jFsFTqf8O
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 6, 2017
#AndhraPradesh govt goes an extra mile,not only beacons but hooters also banned in state to curb VIP culture. pic.twitter.com/MxEbpS4DzS
— Aashish (@Ashi_IndiaToday) May 6, 2017
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for cleansing the Indian psyche of the "deeply entrenched" VIP culture, and said that 'VIP' must be replaced by 'EPI' -- Every Person is Important.
"The concept behind the 'New India' is that EPI should replace VIP. EPI means Every Person is Important. We should accept the importance of 125 crore Indians," Modi said.
He also went on to add, "The red beacon used to be fixed atop a vehicle but slowly and steadily it permeated into the psyche and got firmly entrenched in the mindset. The red beacon has gone for good but nobody can say with certainty that it has also disappeared from the mindset."
Last month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters "From May 1, no red beacon will be allowed atop any official vehicle. There will be no exceptions. Only defined emergency services will be allowed to use blue beacons with flasher."
IANS inputs