The high and low at naka for tipsy drivers

Ishrat S Banwait  

The Chandigarh Police is deploying a large number of personnel and utilising resources on a massive scale to check drunken driving in the city. Around 15 cops are at each such naka along with a traffic marshal to check the problem. 

With multiple nakas being set up across the city almost everyday, the chances of a drunk driver not getting caught are slim. However, the harassment to the public and the traffic chaos caused due to these nakas cannot be ignored. This correspondent spent about an hour each at three such nakas in the past one month to capture the ground reality.

The traffic problem at such nakas is a major one. On an average, it takes a car around 15 minutes to get through, if the driver is not found drunk, that is. While the police barricading expects vehicles to be in three to four lanes, it does not happen. Vehicles move in a haphazard fashion in a bid to get through at the earliest. This causes chaos which is neither 

managed by the police nor by the drivers themselves. 

However, the policemen say that the nakas are set up to ensure that roads stay safe and the public at large has to pay with their time. One constable at a naka set up to check drunken driving last month, near the transport light point, said when questioned about their indifference towards the traffic jam caused by such nakas said, “Talk to the IG if you have too much problem.”

Same pipe for all

The handheld devices called ‘breath analysers’, that are used by the police have been replaced a while ago. The new ones are supposedly more accurate. However, what is not new is the fact that the same pipe fitted in the devices is used for every person. While a driver is mostly required to blow into the pipe from a distance of at least an inch, some tricity residents claim they have been asked to hold it within their lips while blowing.

It is not a case of the device not giving the police an opportunity to use a new pipe for every peron. In fact, it is the other way around. The police at all such nakas carry a large number of brand new nozzle type pipes. These removable plastic nozzles, which can be fitted on these pipes, come wrapped in polybags. However, these are never used by the police during regular checking, only when a driver refuses to blow into the pipe citing any such reason does the police use the nozzles.

The new breath analysers also seem to require a driver to blow into the pipe for a longer duration. Traffic marshal MM Khan, who was at one such naka on the road between the Industrial Area, Phase I, and the Tribune roundabout on Saturday, explains, “One does not need to blow into the pipe hard, one just needs to do it for a few seconds”. At times, drivers are required to blow into the pipe four to five times even if they are not drunk, as the devices are unable to record their breath or show varying alcohol levels in the breath. Khan, however, says that they need to be sure about the level and, hence, ensure it via multiple breaths.

Autos, trucks, buses have a free run

While one expects it to be the other way round, auto-rickshaws, trucks, buses and all such commercial vehicles have a free run through these nakas. Even though two incidents of rape by drunk auto-rickshaw drivers had rocked the city recently, the police are only concentrating on private cars. Sub-inspector Amarjeet Singh, who was in charge of the Industrial Area naka on Saturday, disagrees. “I impounded two such auto-rickshaws yesterday”, he adds. This even after a local court rapped the police for not employing enough force in the PCR and patrolling duty, but for such nakas. The court had made this observation in a letter written to the police after the recent gangrape of a 22-year-old Dehradun girl by an auto-rickshaw driver and two accomplices.

Of hooligans who try to flee

The constables deployed at nakas to check drunken driving say that it is a tough job. People are unwilling to cooperate as they do not want to leave their vehicles. For this reason, it can take even more than an hour to get people to sign on the challan and explain them the whole procedure. This leads to quarrels and fights and for this reason, video recording of such people is done. However, what makes the job dangerous is the people who try to flee such nakas. Two vehicles escaped on Saturday night within half an hour at the Industrial Area naka. An Alto car with a Patiala registration number, being driven by a woman, hit the police barricades, but managed to escape. Yet another Pulsar motorcycle with a rider sans helmet also hit the barricade, but managed to escape. There have been incidents when such hooligans have hit cops on duty and caused injuries.

Yet another problem are the people who are ready to do anything to avoid impounding of their vehicle. They call up ‘powerful’ people and offer to pay ‘extra challan’ on the spot. Such people not only take up a lot of time but also upset the policemen trying to do their job. It takes a great deal of convincing the drunk to leave the spot. The cops on duty inform that it is a very stressful job for this reason. Khan says a public interest litigation (PIL) in the High Court had resulted in a judgment that provided for impounding of cars in cases of drunken driving and hence, there is nothing that can be done to avoid it. A drunken driving challan means impounding of the vehicle as well.