City police book 1,900 cases in Vizag

Visakhapatnam: For a section of the people, New Year celebration is synonymous with binge drinking and partying.

On occasions such as these, a number of revellers indulge in drunk driving which not only puts them in a risky spot but also poses a threat for other road users as well.

In a move to place a check on them, the Visakhapatnam city police formed special teams and kept a hawk eye across the city to avoid any untoward incidents. On December 31 alone, the police booked 222 drunk drive cases and seized vehicles. Similarly, 1,559 cases were booked for various violations, including over-speeding, triple-riding, not wearing helmets, creating noise pollution and not fastening seatbelts among others.

This apart, in the pretext of celebrations, some of the revellers also create nuisance in public.

Catching them red handed, the city police booked 47 cases.

Likewise, revellers having fun by drinking in public places were also taken into task as the police booked 76 cases against them. For Vizagites, RK Beach turns out to be a main venue for the New Year celebrations. Approximately, 1 lakh people head to the beach road to usher in the New Year with their near and dear ones. Keeping this in view, Commissioner of Police Ch Srikanth personally supervised the stretch and ensured that the celebrations went on incident-free. Restricting vehicular movement at BRTS roads, flyovers and other places, monitoring eve teasers with body worn and drone cameras and using technology in overall supervision eventually yielded desired results for the city police to ring in 2023 hassle-free. Earlier, the Commissioner of Police informed that tents were erected to make the tipplers halt for the night. "They were either sent along with their relatives or encouraged them to halt in the tent at night to avoid drunken driving," the CP mentioned.

Much ahead, the police built awareness about the restrictions considered for the New Year among the public. With increased surveillance from 7 pm to 5 am, the revellers could not indulge in any overtures and people were able to return home safely.