HYDERABAD: The Police Department across the tri-commissionerate limits strictly enforced the guidelines it had issued to ensure the New Year is welcomed in the right spirit, and registered 2,498 drunken driving cases in the process in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
Of this, 1,265 cases were registered in Hyderabad commissionerate limits alone. An official statement said that 13,000 police personnel were on duty through the night to desist tipplers from going overboard in their celebrations.
Hyderabad police said that they had registered 960 cases in 2019, but the number dropped to a mere 496 cases in 2020 since strict Covid-19 regulations were in force.
Police teams were seen at every major traffic point and hot spots identified earlier, armed with breathalysers to measure the Breath Alcohol Concentration (BAC) levels.
In Cyberabad commissionerate limits, 873 sozzled drivers were booked under IPC 304A while Rachakonda cops registered 360 cases.
Driving licences of all these merrymakers would be seized and sent to the RTAs concerned for suspension as per Section 19 of the MV Act.
According to Cyberabad police, of the 873 registered cases, as many as 490 drivers had BAC readings of more than 100 mg/100 ml of blood while 37 others had more than 300 mg. The breathalyser showed that the BAC levels of eight of these drivers was more than 500 mg.
Police to continue DD checks
Most of the drunken driving cases were reported in Kukatpally, Gachibowli, Madhapur and Miyapur areas.
Police poficials belonging to the Rachakonda commisionerate said that of the 360 people booked for drunken driving, two were minors, while 17 were in the 18-20 age group, 180 were in the 21-30 age group, 107 were in the 31-40 age group, 42 were in the 41-50 age group, 10 were in the 51-60 age group and two were above 61 years of age.
One driver’s BAC levels measured a whopping 608. Most of those caught in Rachakonda limits were in Uppal and Kushaiguda, Vanasthalipuram, LB Nagar, Malkajgiri, Choutuppal, Bhongir and Yadadri.
Top police officials said that they would continue to focus on drunken driving keeping in view the long weekend.