India News | All Cities Must Adopt Aizawl's No Honking Culture: Kovind

Aizawl, May 5 (PTI) President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday heaped praise on Aizawl's no honking culture and urged other cities to emulate it.

Addressing the convocation ceremony of Mizoram University, Kovind said that with second-highest literacy rate in the country, Mizoram is truly a modern state ready to take off for higher achievements.

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"I have been told that despite busy traffic, the dutiful people of Aizawl refrain from honking. This practice is worth appreciating and may be adopted by people in other cities too," he said.

"We must adopt practices which are beneficial not only to us but also to nature," he added.

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The natural beauty of Mizoram is matched by human excellence shown by the people of the state, he said.

Kovind also lauded the people of Mizoram along with the people of Sikkim and Tripura for generating the least plastic waste in the country.

"This is a good example of responsible consumption and production which our young students will further strengthen," he said.

State capital Aizawl is known to be the only city in the country to be "horn free" without any government policy or regulation. People follow a self-imposed road discipline to avoid traffic snarls in the congested city where roads are narrow.

Everyone here refrains from unnecessary honking, and do not overtake or change lanes on the serpentine roads. Cars would stick to the left of their lane and the two-wheelers to their right, and no one would ply or cross over to the empty lane for vehicles coming from the opposite side.

One hardly hears horns even in traffic jams as honking is considered rude here.

To manage traffic congestion, the government has also introduced a rule where all vehicles are off the road once a week depending on the last digit on their number plates.

There are more than 2 lakh registered vehicles in Aizawl district, of which over 70 per cent are in Aizawl city, according to the state Transport Department.

The government also holds a 'no tolerance week', usually in December every year, during which vehicles with missing documents are fined.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)