Long queues to pay drunk drive fines
One of the violators booked by the Narayanguda Traffic police at Himayat Nagar, about 200 people were seen in the afternoon itself.
HYDERABAD: Several individuals caught for drunk driving in the city queued up at the Traffic Training Institute at Goshamahal on Monday to clear their challans after attending the mandatory counselling session. A huge line was witnessed at the institute with people booked for driving under the influence of alcohol over the weekend waiting to pay their challans and claim their vehicle on Monday.
According to Siddharth Rao, one of the violators who was booked by the Narayanguda Traffic police at Himayat Nagar during the weekend, about 200 people were seen in the afternoon itself. “There was a mandatory counselling session which the violators were made to attend in the morning at 10 am at the Goshamahal Traffic Training Institute. I was then asked to come at 3 pm to pay my challan and collect my vehicle. It took me about 25 minutes to half-an-hour just to clear the challan and collect my bike due to the queue,” he shared.
Officials from the Goshamahal traffic police said they were yet to tally the number of violations and the amounts of challans collected as the process went on till late at night.
“The persons booked in drunken driving and other cases may face difficulties in getting government jobs, passports, etc. According to the Motor Vehicle Act 1988, a person can be punished if over 30 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood is detected in the breath alcohol content test. But in Hyderabad, it has been raised to 35 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood considering minor errors in breath-analysers,” explained the official.