In Odisha, 599 people held for drunken driving in just 3 days

Bhubaneswar, Sep 12: Altogether 599 people were held driving in an inebriated state during a three-day period in Odisha, an official said. The State Transport Authorities (STA) along with the police launched a state-wide operation to discourage people from drunken driving and detected 599 offenders from September 7 to September 9.

“In accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, a total of 338 driving licences have been confiscated for suspension,” the STA said in a statement.

With COVID-related restrictions lifted by the state government following a decline in the number of cases, the Transport Department along with the state police resumed the drive to check drunken driving in April 2022.

The enforcement staff detained 350 vehicles of the offenders in April. As many as 222 people were detained for the offence in April and a total of 455 prosecution reports were submitted to courts for action, it said.

Apart from this, 1,568 other cases have been detected for violation of the Motor Vehicles Act. Despite a set of strict laws and regulations, drunken driving continues to be one of the major reasons behind road accidents in India. A total of 246 road accidents have occurred in the coastal state in 2021 due to drunken driving.

The state in 2019 September amended the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 which mentioned that in the case of drunken driving, first-time offenders will face imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to Rs 10, 000. Violations for the second time can lead to up to two years prison term and/or a fine of Rs 15,000.