No drunken driving challans on New Year’s Eve in Chandigarh

The traffic police slapped 282 fines for general violations on December 31.

As no drunken driving cases were reported on New Year’s Eve, the traffic police here issued 282 general challans, which is not much higher than the average number of fines slapped on weekends in the city.

Around 20 checkpoints were set up by the traffic police across the city. (File photo)

Around 350 traffic personnel were on field duty on the occasion and a special drive against drunken driving was also actively carried out by them. As many as 20 checkpoints were set up by the traffic police besides other nakas for security purposes and to demarcate vehicle-free zones.

A graphical representation of the major violations recorded on New Year’s Eve in Chandigarh.

Senior superintendent of police (traffic) Manisha Chaudhary, who was also present on the field during New Year’s Eve, visited vulnerable spots of the city, including Sector 26 and Industrial Area phase 1 to take stock of the situation.

It was observed that officials were not using alcometers to check the drivers, and instead used a flashlight and talked to the latter to make sure they were okay to drive. “We had received instructions that if any driver seemed intoxicated, we could take him/her for a medical, however, there was barely any traffic on the roads,” said a cop on duty.

Calling this a result of their awareness drive, deputy superintendent of police (traffic east) Charanjit Singh Virk said, “We thank people for acting responsibly and taking our awareness drives seriously. No mishaps were reported on December 31 night. People moved around with designated drivers and those who were unfit to drive used cabs.” He added that the nakas were in place till 2am.

In 2019, 205 challans were issued for drunken driving with 569 general fines on New Year’s Eve that year.