Four private bus drivers were arrested by the traffic police on Tuesday on charges of drunk driving.
The arrests were made during a drive carried out in the capital for three hours from 6.30 a.m. The four people — Ramachandran Nair, Sooraj, Sunidharan and Rajan — had been booked under Section 279 of the IPC and Section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act after the alcohol content in their blood were found to be above the permissible limit of 30 mg/100 ml, police said.
The alcohol content of one driver was as high as 200. A traffic police official said it was surprising that these drivers were indulging in drunk driving in the early hours, or even peak hours, of the day.
Nearly 41 drivers of the private buses, plying in the city limits, were subjected to the on-the-spot test carried out under the supervision of the Assistant Commissioner of Traffic (North) R. Mahesh and CI, Traffic (North), P. Niyas. The drive was carried out on the instructions of City Police Commissioner P. Vijayan, following a tip-off that drivers were indulging in drunk driving. The traffic police have decided to write to the Regional Transport Officer to suspend the driving licences of the four drivers. They have also decided to serve notice to the owners of the private buses. The commuters cooperated with the drive, the official said.
