219 drink-drive cases in Kolkata in six days – Times of India

KOLKATA: Ever since breathalyzer tests were reintroduced in the city six days ago, the city has recorded 219 cases of drink-driving. As many as 112 cases were recorded this weekend and another 88 were recorded on Monday and Tuesday. All raids had begun from 9pm across 30 odd points in the city.
The accident near Sulekha crossing last Saturday — where one person lost his life and six others were injured when a 33-year-old man allegedly drove a sedan under the influence of alcohol — might just be a tip in the iceberg, said cops.

“Each night, we have witnessed a rise in prosecutions as compared to the last one. The only exception was Tuesday. While there is always an increase in such cases on weekends, the jump this time is noticeable. We had recorded 950 odd drink-driving cases between November 8 and December 31 last year at an average of 19 cases per night before the Covid third wave forced us to discontinue the raids. The statistics cover the last weekend of December, when case count usually remains high. But in the past six days (till Tuesday) when we reintroduced breathalyzer tests yet again, we have been prosecuting 37 motorists and bikers on an average each night,” said a senior officer at Lalbazar.
Police said they were worried as the Sulekha incident was not a one-off fatal accident linked directly to drink-driving in the past week. A pedestrian died near RSM Square last week after a mini truck — whose driver was reportedly drunk — crushed him at night. “At night nakas, we found that young men and women were drinking alcohol inside their vehicles as the bars had shut early due to night restrictions,” said a sergeant from Beliaghata traffic guard. The traffic brass has now asked all ACPs to proactively recommend temporary cancellation of licences to the state transport department to send out a strong message.
The maximum drink-driving prosecutions took place in the east and south guards, the areas around New Market-Park Street-Middleton Street-Park Circus. The Kasba traffic guard — under which many pubs operate on both sides of Bypass — along with Jorabagan traffic guard (that covers bars of CR Avenue and the red-light area) and Beliaghata guard (covering a part of Bypass) also registered multiple prosecutions.
Lalbazar brass has now asked police in the Jadavpur-Behala belts to increase drink-driving prosecutions after the Sulekha accident. OCs and additional OCs of all 25 guards have been instructed to be present on the road during special night nakas on weekends. The decision follows some hard statistics collected on Sunday night — the east, south and Jadavpur guards ended up prosecuting 17 people. Incidentally, two of these three guards have witnessed fatal accidents due to drink driving in the past six days.
Police said these 219 prosecutions have taken place with limited resources, barely 60% of sergeants have taken their Covid booster vaccine and since only those cops who are vaccinated thrice can carry out prosecutions, naka checks in the city have been fewer than usual. Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal has laid out certain strict guidelines and an SOP has been set up on how these checks will be conducted. DC (Traffic) Arijit Sinha said they will ensure that breathalyzer tests are carried following the set SOP.