According to sources, bars and pubs in Mohali operate till wee hours with liquor and loud music creating a disturbance for nearby residents. (Representational)Written by Piyush Sarna
Drinking and driving may be a crime but the Tricity is full of drivers who continue to flout this rule with impunity, fully aware that a violation can lead to the vehicle being impounded, a court appearance and a hefty fine or both. While the traffic law is same in all three sister cities, a look at the data shows that only City Beautiful is taking drunk drivers to task.
The maximum number of drink and driving challans are issued in Chandigarh, followed by Panchkula and Mohali. In 2018, the Chandigarh Police issued 6,489 challans in ‘drunk and driving’ cases, as compared to 1,132 challans issued by the Panchkula police and a paltry 709 by Mohali counterparts.
Besides challans, Chandigarh also leads in possession of the equipment, required to test alcohol level consumed by drivers. UT has a total of 92 breathalysers (alcohol testers) , while Panchkula has 17 and Mohali has only five. Arvinder Pal Singh, president of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Chandigarh, said, “Breathalysers are provided near every pub or bar by the government as a precautionary measure but people still drink and drive. Traffic police is doing its duty.”
Ankit Gupta, president of a hotel association, said Chandigarh has a large number of night clubs , which attract people across Tricity. He added that nightclubs in Chandigarh are open till 1 am, whereas all the bars and clubs in Panchkula shut down at 12 am.
According to sources, bars and pubs in Mohali operate till wee hours with liquor and loud music creating a disturbance for nearby residents. Col Harkirat Singh (retd), a senior citizen living in 3B2, said it is difficult to drive in Mohali at night. ‘’I am petrified of stopping at red lights, for chances are that a drunk driver will ram into me.’’
A police officer attributed high number of challans issued by the Chandigarh police to a dedicated force of traffic police. A source in the Panchkula police told Newsline, “Our department is already short-staffed and personnel on traffic duty are often diverted to other tasks.’’
In Panchkula, nakas are mostly set up three to four times a week unlike Chandigarh, where you can find them every day. Of late, the Panchkula Police have started deploying Home Guards on traffic duties but that did not seemed to have any effect on traffic situation. ‘’They just stand around and are not given even a cane, let alone a breathalyser,’’ said Vandana Sharma, a homemaker.
Explaining the less number of challans in Mohali as compared to the other two cities, a traffic official at Mohali told Newsline that breathalysers used by them don’t work properly and the method used is also not updated. Meanwhile, UT Traffic Police has started conducting breath tests even during the day. On this Valentine’s Day, they set up a naka near Elante mall and found two drivers in inebriated condition around noon. Their vehicles were immediately impounded. An RTI reply in 2018 had found the maximum number of drunk driving challans on the occasion of Holi. With barely a month left for the festival of colours, the UT Traffic Police is gearing up for the big day.
