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Close to 1,000 cases of drink driving registered in Pune and PCMC during New Year celebrations
“Vehicles of people caught driving consumption of alcohol will be detained or seized. The details of those caught in the act will be shared with not only their family members but also their employers,”said K Venkatesham, Pune police commissioner.
As Pune welcomed the new year with fervour, the police stayed up all night in an attempt to ensure less number of drink driving mishaps. With 26 spots of nakabandi in the city, over 6,000 police personnel scaled the streets post 9pm.
Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad police collectively registered closed to 1,000 cases of drink driving by people welcoming the new year. While Pune police recorded 873 cases, the Pimpri-Chinchwad police recorded 119 cases between 9pm and 5am.
“Vehicles of people caught driving consumption of alcohol will be detained or seized. The details of those caught in the act will be shared with not only their family members but also their employers,”said K Venkatesham, Pune police commissioner.
“We witnessed similar cases during last year’s New Year’s celebrations. Over the year, we complied a database of all the cases of driving under the influence of alcohol which came up to a total of 14,000 people (which we intend to share with job agencies, current employers and family members),” said a text message from the commissioner.
People caught driving under the influence of alcohol will be added to the list.
No untoward incidents were reported in the first half of December 31. The police officials, including Commissioner K Venkatesham himself, urged citizens to avoid drinking and driving or riding.
A text message forwarded by the commissioner to various people,said, “Dear Punekar, in 2018 we had large number of fatal accidents. To ensure your safety during the upcoming New Year celebrations, we have planned a massive drive against Drunken Driving starting 09:00 PM on 31st December till the early hours of 1st January of the New Year.For this year’s year end bandobast and crowd control and crime control, we will be taking help of. CCTV cameras with recording capacity of 15 days and also PA systems at more than 100 places. We have large number of check points. More than 125 static/ mobile/decoy teams will conduct special drunken drive (DD)tests.Latest Breath Analyzers will be utilized.we will be video recording /photographing complete checking. All vehicles caught in DD checks are likely to be seized/ detained on the spot.We sincerely hope you don’t figure in this year’s list. We request New Year revellers to refrain from Drunken Driving and ensure your own safety as well as the safety of all others” (sic)
The police department aimed at reducing the number of fatal accidents by half this year. One unit of state reserve police force (SRPF) was also deployed.
