Bhubaneswar: In order to bring down fatalities due to road mishaps caused by drunken driving, the Odisha government has decided to take tough steps against such drivers.
Usha Padhee, principal secretary, Commerce and Transport department, in a letter to Director General of Police (DGP), has requested to take steps for arrest of the drivers who would be found driving after drinking alcohol.
Even as a Supreme Court appointed committee has expressed its concern over the rate of road accident related deaths in Odisha, the police have failed to take stringent step against the drunken drivers, she said.
Pointing out that the department has provided adequate number of breath analysers to police stations and RTOs to check drunken driving, the secretary said the government has adopted zero tolerance policy towards drink and drive in the state.
As a stringent measure in this regard, Padhee has suggested to the DGP to direct all police stations to arrest the drivers who would fail in breath analyser tests.
She further said the “zero fatality week” observed by the government from April 1 to 7 led to drastic fall in accidents and related death on roads. While the accident rate came down by 39.9% during the week compared to previous week, the death rate dropped by 28.6%.
Significantly, no minor person met any accident or died in road mishap during the week. Stating that it could be achieved due to awareness campaign and strict enforcement of the traffic rules, the secretary asked the DGP to take tough steps in this regard.
