Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, July 20: In order to minimise fatal mishaps due to drunk driving, the state government Wednesday decided to intensify its enforcement activities in the twin cities.
Chairing a high-level review meeting on road safety, development commissioner R Balakrishnan directed police, excise and transport officials to intensify their enforcement efforts to ensure zero drunken driving.
He directed the concerned officials to draft more mobile checking units to intensify highway patrolling so that the action should reflect on the road users.
The development commissioner advised introduction of a special MIS format through inter-departmental coordination for more effective monitoring of the activities at ground level.
Balakrishnan said road accidents not only cost the life and property, they also cause heavy loss on the state’s economy. He directed the police, excise and transport departments to take joint action with a missionary zeal to check the menace.
Hearing a case (No.12528 of June 27, 2016), the Orissa High Court had appreciated the efforts initiated by Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate Police to check drunken driving.
Altogether, 4794 drunken driving cases have been detected up to May 2016 and 3276 licences of individual drivers have been suspended, transport commissioner CS Kumar said.
Similarly, Rs 51.30 lakh has been collected in terms of compounding fees and fines while the regional transport officers (RTOs) and commissionerate police personnel have been supplied with 80 breath analysers for testing drunken drivers, he said.
The department has budgeted `15crore for road safety this year. It has also decided to buy prioritised modern equipment from this fund.
Police DG Kunwar Brajesh Singh, commerce and transport secretary Sanjaya Rastogi, excise secretary Bishnupada Sethi, home special secretary Lalit Kumar Das were among those who were present at the meeting.
Meanwhile, transport minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi said the state has taken up several initiatives to check drunken driving cases. Till May 2016, 19,985 DLs have been suspended by 35 RTOs across the state, Majhi added.
“We have asked the RTOs to conduct more enforcement drives with the help of local police, in their respective jurisdictions,” he added.