Hyderabad: Having sent 587 drunk drivers to jail in two-and-a-half months, Hyderabad has set a national record in imprisoning the most offenders in the shortest period.
Unlike in the past, imprisonment and chargesheets are reflecting in the records when an individual applies for government jobs, passports, renewal of driving licence etc.
An IT professional, who was imprisoned for 20 days for drunk driving, said he lost his job after his release.

Senior police officials say the harshness of the sentence is a part of deterrence, which is important to do away with the menace. More than 5,500 drunk drivers have been caught in the first three months of this year.

As the traffic police data is now integrated with Road Transport Department, the process of cancellation of driving licence has also been initiated as a punishment for drunk driving. This year, RTA has cancelled as many as six licences of repeated offenders.

“The RTA officials can now access our database and they can verify the details of an applicant for licence renewal or any other purpose before they grant it. We are also requesting the court to cancel the licence of repeat offenders,” said Hyderabad traffic police additional commissioner Jitender.



The Special Branch and Passport Verification Cell are also accessing the traffic police database now. “During police verification, if an individual is found to have been imprisoned for drunk driving, we do mention that in the status report. Since the conviction is less than two years of imprisonment, we leave the decision to the Regional Passport Officer whether to grant the passport or not,” said K. Govardhan Reddy, additional DCP of Special Branch.

During the background check for any government job, traffic police data is also verified, making it hard for drunk driving offenders to get a job. Cyberabad traffic police DCP Avinash Mohanty said, “We certainly cannot catch all the drunk drivers, so enforcement along with awareness is important.”

As many as 29,000 traffic violators have been fined on the Outer Ring Road between January 18, 2014, and March 23, 2015. A total of 257 cases were booked on Saturday March 21, out of which 46 were for wrong parking and 211 were for driving on the wrong side.

The total fine collected by the Cyberabad police, since the beginning of the enforcement, is Rs 23.41 lakh. Racing and taking wrong turns on the Outer Ring Road have become a major problem leading to several accidents.

Even though 2 and 3 wheelers are not allowed on the ORR, bikes and autos still take the route. In a joint initiative, the HMDA and Cyberabad Police in January 2014 had flagged out of four patrolling vans for Phase 1 of ORR (85 km), from Pedda Amberpet to Patancheru through Shamshabad.