Two deaths during road accidents on Holi this year: Cops

"No major incident was reported in Delhi during Holi this year," Delhi Police spokesperson Chinmoy Biswal said.

Two people lost their lives in separate road accidents reported from Civil Lines and Dwarka during muted Holi celebrations in the city on Monday, showed Delhi Police data.

Except for the two fatalities, no more accidents were reported this year. Representational image. (Getty images)

Except for the two fatalities, no more accidents were reported this year. There were 23 road accidents reported during Holi celebrations in 2020 and 28 in 2019. The city saw seven deaths because of mishaps in 2019, data showed.

To be sure, Holi was on March 10 last year, nearly two weeks before curbs were put in place to stem the spread of Covid-19.

Of the total fines issued on Monday, 1,255 were for riding without helmets, 170 for triple riding, 100 for drink driving, 121 for dangerous driving while 1,800 were for other traffic violations, the data said.

Police officers attributed this decline to heavy deployment of their personnel on the streets and restrictions imposed in the city following the Delhi Disaster Management Authority’s (DDMA’s) Covid-19 guidelines that banned Holi celebrations and gatherings in public places. Owing to massive awareness campaigns through newspapers, news channels and social media, there was better compliance observed this year, officers said.

As far as action taken for violations of DDMA guidelines regarding Covid-19 is concerned, 72 cases were registered for celebrating Holi in public places. As many as 871 people were prosecuted or arrested for various violations such as drinking in public places, disturbing peace, obstructing or annoying people on streets, not wearing masks and not following social distancing, Delhi Police spokesperson Chinmoy Biswal said.

“We also impounded 1,696 vehicles. No major incident was reported during Holi this year. Delhi Police takes this opportunity to thank all stakeholders for extending their cooperation for celebrating Holi while observing Covid appropriate behaviour,” said Biswal.

Apart from the police, the Delhi government also issued challans for mask and social distancing-related violations.

According to government data, all 11 revenue districts on Monday issued 2,758 fines, with north district topping the chart with 607 fines.