One for the road lands 1,000 behind bars

Milestone in Mumbai police’s campaign against drunken driving this year

MUMBAI: One thousand and counting. That’s the number of people who have been jailed for drinking and driving in Mumbai so far this year.  Various metropolitan magistrates across the city on Monday sentenced 69 offenders to simple imprisonment taking the tally to 1,062.

But the police say the tipplers are undeterred. “It is worrying that even drivers in the public transport sector are driving after consuming alcohol,” said Harish Baijal, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic). Drivers of three tourist buses with at least 40 passengers each on board were arrested for drunken driving on Sunday night. Three autorickshaw drivers, five truck drivers, 13 tempo drivers, and 69 private car drivers were also booked the same night.

On September 24, the night of India’s Twenty-20 triumph, 84 motorists celebrated a bit too much and ended up in jail. Gatari amavasya, the day that marks the beginning of the month of Shravan, saw a minor record of sorts — more than a 100 people were booked.

Since January, 7,475 cases of drunken driving have been registered by the Mumbai Traffic police — 5,991 since the special drive was launched on June 20. And more than Rs1 crore has been collected as fines. Licences of 970 offenders have also been suspended since the drive  began.

“It is a popular misconception that people drink only during the night. We have nabbed motorists even on the surprise checks in the afternoon,” said Baijal.