Police personnel enforce full lockdown in Chennai to the last letter

CHENNAI:  The city police after intensified vehicle checks filed a whopping 3,028 cases in a single day and seized over 3,252 vehicles on Saturday, the highest since the lockdown. The police also deployed drones throughout the city and increased vehicle checkpoints to 318 places. Personnel from Law and Order division and Traffic wing collectively conducted vehicle checks to control the unnecessary loitering.  

Important junctions along the Old Mahabalipuram Road, East coast Road and GST Road were manned by personnel from Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts. “We have deployed at least 25 personnel for every checkpoint in the city and up to 40 in important junctions and inter-district connecting roads, so as to not increase traffic jam during vehicle checks,” said a senior police officer.

Patrol vehicles were seen plying throughout the city, shutting down shops which were open violating rules. On Adyar bridge, at least 50 food delivery agents were stopped and made to wait on the roadside at 8 am. “Since food delivery is constrained to a few hours of the day, we made the agents wait in a single space so as to stop them from loitering around the city. At specific times, we let go of them so they could deliver food,” said a police officer. 

Drones hired from local photographers and a few purchased from the DGP office were deployed in the city to monitor movements. On Saturday, L&O division police seized over 2,806 vehicles while traffic cops seized 446 vehicles. Motorists were issued spot fines and the vehicles were returned 24 hours later. Also, 2,485 people were issued challans for not wearing face masks, 278 for not maintaining social distancing and 55 shops for being open beyond stipulated time.