Anticipating large number of motorists and bike-borne people coming out to celebrate the arrival of New Year (2017), the Delhi Traffic Police has taken elaborate measures to prevent rowdy behaviour on the roads of the national Capital.
Special arrangements will be in place to stop and detain people indulging in drunken driving and over speeding. Traffic police personnel will be stationed at key locations with “Alcohol Meters” (breath analysers) to carry out random checks on people to check the level of alcohol in their blood.
Traffic movement will be controlled with the Delhi Traffic Police manning the inter-state borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh Police. Commercial vehicles will be on the radars of the police personnel. Intensive checks at all the border entry check posts will be carried out and vehicles with registration numbers of other States will be accorded special attention, a senior Delhi Traffic Police official said.
According to Garima Bhatnagar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), “Arterial roads around Connaught Place and India Gate will be barricaded. Starting from December 31 evening, traffic cops along with personnel from the local police stations in the New Delhi district will be out on patrolling duty. Apart from the arterial roads, traffic will be allowed to move in the Outer CP.”
Keeping in mind the heavy influx of party revellers in the heart of Delhi, Connaught Place, followed by Hauz Khas in South Delhi and Khan Market in New Delhi, traffic policemen have been directed to resort to measures such as speed-o-meters and instead of issuing challans on the spot itself, make use of the concept of e-challans.
“In order to ensure a smooth traffic on the carriageway of all the major roads on December 31 evening, the traffic police personnel have been directed to use e-challan to fine the errant driver of the vehicle. The move to incorporate e-challan on Decemeber 31 is also done to avert gathering of crowd or vehicles in large number at a particular place on any given time. This is done from the perspective of the security purpose as well, “said another senior police officer from the Traffic Unit of Delhi Police.
“A couple of interceptors will be placed at each road to avert accidents. Apart from the interceptors, Delhi Traffic Police will use alcohol meters.”
Talking about how effectively these alcohol meters are put to use by the police, a police official said, “We keep a minimum of 200 straws. The errant driver, the one who is driving under the influence of alcohol, is asked to use a straw, placed on the meter. After verifying whether the person is under the influence of alcohol, we dispose of the straw. The method of analyzing whether a person is driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol is organised and hygienic. However, on December 31, we ask for a large number of straws, since the duty starts from evening around 6pm and goes on till January 1 till 6 am.”
Traffic policemen, posted in large numbers at the areas in lutyen’s Delhi, are especially asked to co-ordinate not only with the local police but with the Police Control Room staff.
As opposed to the common belief that every person is partying in farmhouses or at their homes, a large section of the people do gather on the roads on December 31. Talking about how difficult it is to manage traffic on December 31 every year, a police official from the Traffic Unit shared, “Managing traffic on December 31 is a hectic job. For instance, in the case of Connaught Place, dotted by a large number of cafes and restaurants, till the time most of the vehicles, belonging to the party revelers, gathered at the parking lots in the Outer as well as Inner Circle, do not leave, we are bound to stay till the early hours of January 1.”