140 arrested in Odisha for drink and drive in 24 hours; offenders fined ₹ 10,000 each

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The Odisha Police have arrested 140 people in 24 hours for drunken driving, according to a senior police officer, here on Saturday. Interim Director General of Police (DGP) Satyajit Mohanty said, they were arrested in a crackdown on drunken driving in several parts of the state on Friday. Twenty-seven drunken driving cases were reported in the Ganjam district, 25 in Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj (24) and Jajpur (17). One case each was reported in Khurda and Cuttack districts.

The offenders were fined Rs 10,000 each under the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act, 2019, Mohanty said. Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi said any person found violating traffic rules would be fined as per the MV Act, 2019.

Even though the state government has relaxed checking of documents, including driving licence, for three months, Sarangi said traffic violators would not be spared from Sunday.

Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera said traffic rule violations, like over-speeding, red light jumping, drunken driving, driving against flow of traffic, using mobile phone while driving, dangerous driving, triple riding on two-wheelers, not wearing helmet, not wearing seat belt and overloading, would attract penalty during the drive.

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