The traffic police collected nearly four lakh rupees in fines, while booking 565 motorist for drunk driving.

The Mumbai traffic police collected nearly four lakh rupees in fines, while booking 565 motorist for drunk driving, a report in The Times of India said. Also for the first time since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a cashless society, the traffic police on New Year's Eve used the e-challan system to penalise drunk drivers and other traffic violators.

The report added that the number of drunk drivers booked by the traffic police on the New Year's Eve dipped 20 percent compared to last year.

However, Traffic Commissioner, Milind Bharambe chose not to come to any conclusion over the lower numbers.

"The cases might have dropped as compared to the same period last year, but we will have to observe the figure of such drives for some more time before drawing any conclusion", Mumbai Mirror quoted the police officer as saying.

On last New Year's Eve, the Mumbai traffic police booked 705 for drunk driving, which was a rise after witnessing a dip in the numbers in 2013 and 2014, when 570 and 523 had been booked under the same offence, a January 2, 2016 report in The Indian Express said.

However, the report noted that the number of people booked for drunk driving peaked in 2012, when 840 were fined.

A total of 3365 bikers and motorists were booked on the New Year's Eve for various offences other than drunk driving.