Mohali cops ‘sober’ with drunken drivers

One fact for this dismal record is the unavailability of proper equipment. The police in Mohali have only two alco-sensors. One alcosensor is out of order and the other one functions but is also not fully efficient. Admitting the fact,Deputy Superintendent of Police (City) Darshan Singh Mann said,“One of our alco-sensor has not been working properly and has,thus,been sent for repairs.”

The laxity on the part of the Mohali cops could well be imagined from the fact that out of the first six months this year,challans were majorly issued only in the month of March. Of the total of 45 challans,37 offenders were challaned for drunken driving in the month of March and only eight were challaned for the violations in the other five months. In fact,March too can be discounted because the month sees more offenders being booked than the usual months because of the closing of the financial year and the police have to improve their challaning figures.

Unlike the inconsistency of Mohali Police,in Chandigarh the numbers of challans issued have shown an upward trend as the months have progressed. Barring January in which only 13 violators were booked,the numbers have increased considerably,with the month of June witnessing 724 challans. Chandigarh’s area is almost 2.3 times lesser than that of Mohali district.

Asked to explain such a poor track record of the Mohali police in dealing with the drunken driving menace,DSP Mann claimed,” There have been few challans because the courts were not accepting these cases. The offenders were facing harassment because all their documents were with us. Now as the court has started accepting these cases,the cases will be disposed off soon and more offenders will be booked.”

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has already cracked the whip and issued stern instructions to the police forces of Chandigarh,Punjab and Haryana to act tough with drunken drivers. Although Chandigarh and Haryana appear to have geared up,Punjab police is still caught napping.

During evening hours,the menace of drunken driving on Mohali roads is quite blatant. The menace gets more unbearable for city residents during the weekends,with hardly any traffic police checking being done on either of the city roads during evening hours.