Police say they decided to adopt stringent step as awareness didn’t help

As many as 125 motorists, who were caught for drunk driving on New Year’s eve, will not get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the police for licences and passport.

The Chennai traffic police deployed nearly 10,000 personnel across the city to ensure that New Year celebrations were incident-free. A total of 368 police check points and 25 outposts were put up.

The police booked 125 drunk drivers and they were let off only after they became sober.

According to a senior police officer, out of the 125, around 10 were auto drivers, 40 were four-wheeler drivers and the remaining were bikers. “This time, our focus was on cars too. Usually, they are not intercepted and checked for drunk driving,” said the officer.

As the police felt that no amount of fine or awareness served as a deterrent to drunk driving, they decided to adopt a strict measure.

The NOC from the police is necessary for obtaining licence for various purposes, such as for starting a gymnasium, transferring vehicle to other State, passport and sometimes for getting a job. However, the NOC will not be issued if a person has any case or remarks against him.

“The details of the 125 drunk drivers have been sent to the wing in charge of issuing licences in the Police Commissioner’s office. We will not provide the NOC when they apply,” said A. Arun, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic).

Meanwhile, V.S. Suresh, advocate, Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT), said it was an extreme step. “Any punishment should be reformative. Those caught for drunk driving should be given counselling so that they don’t repeat the offence again,” he said.

M. Radhakrishnan, organiser of Thozhan, an NGO working for road safety, said though it was a welcome move, enforcement should be tightened.

“On New Year’s eve many motorists drank and drove the vehicle, but only 125 were nabbed,” he pointed out.