Reacting to a spike in the number of road accidents over the last few weeks, activist Prince Singhal of the Community Against Drunken Driving (CADD) has written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to ‘partially prohibit’ alcohol sale.
CADD is a non- profit outfit that raises awareness against drunk driving.
“Alcohol serves as a major source of revenue to the government exchequer, however, if measured against the lives lost due to usage of alcohol, it is a heavy price to pay. In recent years it has been noticed that the easy access to alcohol in Delhi is leading to drunk driving, underage drinking and drinking in public places,” Mr. Singhal said.
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The activist has suggested implementing a short term partial prohibition on a trial basis to put a brake on the “growing crisis of alcohol-related deaths and injuries on our roads”.
He has suggested that alcohol be made available only on alternate days, stopping issuance of new liquor licenses, closing liquor shops at petrol pumps and malls, and heavily penalising public drinking and drink driving.
Mr. Singhal has urged Mr. Kejriwal to act on the issue with great urgency as Delhi “is not only the accident capital but also the alcohol capital of the country”.
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“Delhi reports around 12,000 accidents annually with over 1,875 road accident deaths. Out of this, nearly 1,500 are due to drink driving and 54.1 per cent of the victims are in the age group of 15-34 years,” Mr. Singhal said.