Home Articles Drunk driving checks to resume in Hyderabad as clubs and bars reopen
KEY STORY
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As bars and pubs reopen in Hyderabad, the city traffic police are also gearing up to resume drunk driving checks. Officials are busy drafting a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to ensure physical distancing and other COVID-19 safety guidelines to be followed during the checks.&
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Traffic police in the city had suspended drunk driving checks since March. The checks were resumed on a small scale when liquor stores opened in the state in May. However, with the state government issuing an order on September 25 allowing the reopening of bars and clubs, the traffic police intend to resume checks to nab drunk drivers.
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Speaking to Telangana Today, Anil Kumar, Additional Commissioner (Traffic) for Hyderabad said that the checks will resume once the officers are briefed on the SOP and sensitized. The traffic police are also studying the SOPs adopted by traffic police in neighboring states to tackle drunk driving during the pandemic. The traffic police are strategizing on where to set up checkpoints, how to avoid gathering of motorists, procedure on confiscation and detaining of vehicles etc.
CONCLUSION
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The police intend to reduce the number of traffic police checkpoints and select wide roads where more personnel can be deployed for checks. It will be mandatory for the officers to use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and use hand sanitizers while on duty.
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Officials are yet to provide clarity on the use of breath analyzers during drunk driving checks. In February a Hyderabad-based non-profit, Vaada Foundation, had written to Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar stating that the use of breath analyzers during drunk driving checks were unhygienic and could spread the virus to a lot of people.
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At the Telangana Assembly in March, Ibrahimpatnam legislator Manchireddy Kishan Reddy had sought that the use of breath analysers during drunk driving checks be suspended. The Delhi High Court had briefly suspended breath analysers through a tube for air traffic controllers in March.
