The police here will go for single-use tubes on breathalysers to detect drunk drivers during New Year celebrations, ensuring that the exercise does not spread COVID-19, a senior police official said on Friday. The police department in Maharashtra had halted the use of breathalysers in March 2020 after the coronavirus outbreak. The city police will now bring back the devices to keep a watch on drunken driving.
Vijay Magar, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said, “For the last two years, the analyser was not used to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This year, the breath analyser machine will have use-and-throw pipes. One pipe will be used for one driver during the test, it won’t be reused. The decision has been taken to restrict the spread of the infection.”
Those found driving under the influence of alcohol will have to pay the fine as per the norms. A vehicle will be seized if a heavily intoxicated person is found driving it, said the official. As many as 5,000 police and traffic personnel will be deployed across the city including major points ahead of the New Year revelry. The police have also made special arrangements to streamline vehicular movement on Saturday as they anticipate heavy crowds from evening onwards.
The traffic department will ban vehicles on Fergusson College (FC) Road and Mahatma Gandhi (MG) Road after sundown. Both roads will be declared no-vehicle zones after 7 pm, said a senior police official. Entry of vehicles will be banned on the FC Road from Good Luck Chowk to Fergusson College Gate, while the road from 15 August Chowk to Hotel Aurora Towers will remain closed for vehicles from 7 pm on December 31 till 5 am on January 1, said the official.
