The city witnessed a rather sober celebration on the New Year eve this time, thanks to stringent enforcement of law and restricted sale of liquor. No untoward incident such as accident or ruckus was reported from the city on Tuesday night, the police said.
The city police not only restricted the entry of vehicles to the Beach Road stretch from Naval Coastal Battery to Park Hotel Junction and Telugu Talli flyover, but also deployed special teams at all strategic junctions such as NAD Kotha Road, Maddilapalem, Satyam Junction, Gajuwaka and Gopalapatnam among others.
“Strict monitoring brought down the rash driving and overspeeding to a great extent,” said DCP (Zone-I) Ranga Reddy.
A huge police force was deputed along the Beach Road and special teams were seen patrolling the stretch on segways.
The enforcement was strict on Beach Road as it has been the hub of New Year revelry in the past many years. Senior officers including Police Commissioner R.K. Meena monitored the crowd.
In the previous years, the city saw at least two to three fatal accidents on the New Year eve. But, no such incident was reported this time, said a senior officer. According to Mr. Ranga Reddy, the traffic department was issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) and it worked out well.
Special teams
The city police had formed around 50 teams to check drunk driving and around 280 cases were registered on Tuesday night. The accused were also counselled on Wednesday morning.
The restricted sale of liquor, as part of the government move to implement total prohibition in a phased manner, was another reason for the sobriety, said Assistant Commissioner of Police (Zone II) M.R.K Raju.
Excise policy
After the implementation of new excise policy, the number of liquor shops has come down from 423 to 321 and the permit room system has been abolished. The sale timings for liquor outlets and bars and have also been restricted to 8 p.m. and 10 p.m respectively.
Furthermore, the liquor prices have gone up. All these measures had an impact on the New Year revelry, said an officer of Prohibition and Excise Department.
“Even as the liquor sale figures saw an increase this time when compared to that of previous years, there was a drop in the quantity of sales,” said the excise officer.
The district recorded a sale of ₹15.57 crore on the new year eve this time, when compared to ₹12.27 crore in 2018. However, the quantity of IML sold was put at 18,155 cases and beer 12,914 cases on Dec 31, 2019, when compared to 18,918 IML cases and 19,558 beer cases in 2018.
“The rise in the sale figures is due to the increase in the liquor prices,” explained the excise officer.
