THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It has turned out to be a big business. Like many other parts of the State, the city too been witnessing long ‘queues’ of cars in front of car accessories shops to get the sun film removed. On an average, a shop at the key centres in the city removes the tinted film from 20 to 25 cars. “We cannot help more car owners as our parking space is limited,” said Ani Vinayaka, who runs a showroom at Bakery Junction. The rush, thanks to a Supreme Court order of April 27, has caused a windfall to the shop owners, who charge Rs 400 or more per vehicle for removing the sun film. “For those cars which carry duplicate film, it is a task of two to three hours and we charge an additional Rs 100,” said Premkumar, a shop owner at Sasthamangalam. But some car owners complain about the entire affair. “I bought my car six months ago. When I approached the service centre to remove the sun film along with the second service, they asked me to pay Rs 750 plus tax,” said Santhosh K of Peroorkada. Some other car owners are, however, keen to fix new film with cooling effect and with tint which would not amount to disobeying the apex court order. This also is helping the shops to improve business as they charge up to Rs 1,000 to fix the new film. The accessories shops which earlier did good business by fixing sun film have now started compensating the anticipated loss in business following the Supreme Court order by removing dark-tinted films and fixing new ones with lesser tint. No Person FinedHowever, the police have not fined a single person for not removing the dark-tinted film. “As there are no standing orders, we have not fined anybody till now. We only issued a circular asking car owners to remove the film,” said P Mohanan, AC Traffic South. The SC Order From May 4, the Supreme Court (SC) has banned cars from using black film on the front and rear windscreens that blocks light by more than 30 per cent and on the side window panes by more than 50 per cent.Government vehiclesMore Law-abidingIt seems the government departments are very keen to obey the laws. The presumption is not a mere guess. Government department cars, especially police vehicles, are in front of the queue at accessories shops to get the sun film removed. “The number of government department vehicles, especially police vehicles, is much more than that of other vehicles which approach us to remove the dark sun film,” said Ani Vinayak, of Vinayaka accessories shop at Bakery Junction.Earlier, there was no dearth of such cars in the Police Department and it used to attract criticism from various corners. It had been pointed out that the law enforcement personnel were not bothered about the law at all. Most of the highly-placed officials of the Police Department were active proponents of the dark sun film. Another interesting fact is that the middle class are more sensitive and respectful to the law than their rich counterparts. “Those who own ordinary cars are eager to obey the law as they are the ones rushing to the shops. But those who own luxury cars are least bothered. It is true that the costly cars have no tinted glasses fixed on them. They have inbuilt, expensive cooling glass with light tint. The rich, who keep ordinary cars as spare vehicles at their homes, are not as much keen to obey the Court order,” said a shop owner in the city. Likewise, the youths also are not much worried about the consequences if they do not obey the law.
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