A total of 42 persons were apprehended for drunk driving by the Cyberabad police in Hyderabad between November 8 and November 12 and sent to jail for up to seven days. Out of the 42 persons who were arrested for drunk driving during this period, 23 persons were caught from Miyapur while 12 persons were caught from Balanagar. During this period, the number of court disposal cases in Cyberabad were 321, of which 271 were related to drunk driving. The court imposed a cumulative fine of Rs 10,23,100 on the drunk driving cases.
Meanwhile, another two persons were caught by Panjagutta traffic police during a drunk driving check and were remanded to police custody for five days. A fine of Rs 10,500 was also imposed on them by a city court. Cyberabad police said that the driving licences of all the persons who were caught for drunk driving are being sent to the RTOs (Road Transport Office) concerned for suspension as per Section 19 of the Motor Vehicle Act. Cyberabad Traffic Police have urged citizens to exhibit self-discipline and responsibility while driving on the road.
In July this year, the Cyberabad Traffic Police had resumed drunk driving checks while following COVID-19 safety precautions, following an increase in the number of road accidents in the city reportedly caused due to driving under the influence of alcohol. A total of 126 people were booked across various locations coming under the Cyberabad Commissionerate on the first day of checks on July 3. This comprised drivers of 105 two-wheelers, three three-wheelers and 14 four-wheelers, who were booked.
The implementation of lockdown measures for most of the year in 2020 had led to a drastic fall in the number of cases of drunk driving. As per the annual report from the Cyberabad police, there were 8,399 drunk driving cases booked from January to December 2020, while 2019 saw the number of drunk driving cases for the same period at 21,000.
However, since the second wave of the pandemic, there were no drunk driving checks in place, and it was observed that this had led to an increase in the number of accidents. Hence, the drunk driving checks were resumed to curb this tendency.