36 drunk drivers, 115 wrong-side drivers caught on Holi

The Mumbai traffic police conducted a special drive and apprehended 36 drunk drivers and 115 motorists for driving on the wrong side across the city during Holi on Friday

Mumbai The Mumbai traffic police conducted a special drive and apprehended 36 drunk drivers and 115 motorists for driving on the wrong side across the city during Holi on Friday.

The traffic police had posted officials at more than 100 check posts on Friday night at strategically located points in the city to crack down on drunk driving and other traffic violations (HT PHOTO)

Besides, the police also penalised 8,276 drivers for various other violations.

Officers said that every year they conduct a special drive to control drunk driving on Holi. Accordingly, nakabandis were set up at various places across the city – also to avoid major accidents. However, due to Covid, the police officials were unable to use breath analysers and thus could apprehend only 36 motorists driving under influence of alcohol. Their blood samples were sent for forensic tests.

“Due to restrictions on breath-analysers, we conducted random checking of drivers at nakabandis set up across the city and asked the drivers to provide their blood samples whenever they suspected the driver was under the influence of alcohol,” said a police officer from the Mumbai traffic police.

The traffic police had posted officials at more than 100 check posts on Friday night at strategically located points in the city to crack down on drunk driving and other traffic violations. The drive continued from midnight on Thursday until 7 pm on Friday.

During the drive, a total of 4,317 motorists were penalised for not wearing a helmet. Fines were levied on 1,876 motorists for violating parking norms, whereas 484 were penalised for wrong-side driving on one way, 382 motorists were penalised for driving without seat belts and 1,312 challans were issued for disrupting traffic near railway stations.

In 2020, although the Holi celebrations were low key due to the Covid, the police personnel had caught over 4,600 traffic offenders, including 336 for drunk driving. They said that in 2021, the drive was suspended due to Covid.