Bhubaneswar: The state government has appealed to all the Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) in the state to ensure suspension of driving licences (DLs) of those who are caught driving under the influence of alcohol.
In a communication to the RTOs, the state Transport department cited the earlier directives of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety which envisaged suspension of DLs for such serious offences. The official correspondence claimed that while the panel directive bats for full suspension of the licences and its subsequent deletion of data from the online database, many RTOs are still faltering on the issue.
The minister and secretary from the department also warned the people against the menace of drunken driving.
The state Commerce and Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera also said that within next one year the state has targeted to reduce road accident cases by 20 per cent.
“We are trying to take possible measures to reduce road accidents in the state. We are trying to install CCTVs on the streets, ensure suspension of licences of drunken drivers and other besides measures. We have planned to reduce the road accidents by 20 per cent this year as per our representation to the Supreme Court road safety committee. Many road accidents are now reported from the state due to drunken driving,” he said.
G Srinivas, Commerce and Transport Secretary, said that as per the new Motor Vehicle Act, drunken driving can lead to cancellation of driving licence and the state will focus on that. “We have seen around 9,000 cases of people driving vehicles under the influence of alcohol in the past three months. The officials have been asked not to just fine them but forward them to court.”
The SC panel on road safety had demanded that once police forward such cases to the concerned offices of RTO, the officials need to suspend the licences of the erring drivers. The SC Committee on road safety on the other side also recommended suspension of licences for other offences like using mobile phones while driving and over-speeding besides.
The department’s order said, “…as per the directions of the Committee on Road Safety you are directed to take steps for the 100 per cent suspension of the DLs against the drunken driving cases detected by you and forwarded by the police. You are also directed to furnish the reasons for not suspending the DLs forwarded by the police for suspension.”
