Police officials from the tri-commissionerate have issued guidelines and restrictions for New Year’s eve celebrations in Hyderabad. Police said that they will use sniffer dogs and drug testing equipment at pubs if and when necessary.
“People can enjoy the New Year’s night but should not indulge in drunk driving and cause public nuisance,” said DGP Ravi Gupta.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy said that it is the responsibility of the management of the pubs and bars to make necessary arrangements to provide cabs and drivers to customers who are in a drunken state to reach their destinations. “People are advised to use the concept of ‘designated driver for a day’ and having a person refrain from drinking above the permissible limit and drive them home. The pub management can teach this to their customers and also display the same at prominent places for their safety,” he said.
Commissioner of Cyberabad Police Avinash Mohanty said that close to 3,000 police personnel, including law and order, traffic, Armed Reserve (AR) and other wings will be deployed on the night of December 31.
“Like in Hyderabad, the closing time for pubs and other establishments is 1 a.m. We will start putting up check posts for drunk driving across the commissionerate and strict action will be taken against the violators. Sniffer dogs will be on standby to be used if and when necessary. Same with the drug testing,” he explained.
Faster drug testing kit
The drug test being used by the police in the city is a 10-panel drug test, which is a urine screen that detects 10 of the prescription/illicit drugs people most frequently abuse. The test can detect amphetamines like amphetamine sulphate, methamphetamine and dexamphetamine, marijuana, hashish, cocaine, heroin, opium, codeine, morphine, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and other substances, including phencyclidine, methaqualone, methadone and propoxyphene.
“When caught driving under the influence of alcohol, a penalty of ₹10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to six months will be imposed for the first offence, and a penalty of ₹15,000 and/or imprisonment of up to two years will be imposed for a second or subsequent offence. Moreover, all their driving licences will be seized and sent to concerned RTOs for suspension,” said the officials.
Numbers to complain
People can send a WhatsApp message to 9490617346 with details of vehicle, time, place etc to complain about taxis/autos refusing rides, and a penalty of ₹500 will be imposed in the form of e-challan.
In Rachakonda, people can complain about taxis/autos refusing rides by sending a message on WhatsApp to 8712662111.
Closures/diversions-
All the flyovers in the city will be closed for traffic on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1. However, the PVNR Expressway will be accessible for the passengers who are bound for the RGIA airport upon showing their flight ticket. The Begumpet flyover will also be open to traffic.
Hyderabad
Traffic will not be allowed on NTR Marg, PVNR Marg (Necklace Road) and Upper Tank Bund from 10 p.m. of December 31 to 2 a.m. of January 1.
The Mint compound lane adjacent to the Secretariat will be closed for general vehicular traffic. Meanwhile, commuters travelling from V.V. Statue (Khairatabad) towards Necklace Road and NTR Marg via the Khairatabad flyover will be diverted at V.V. Statue (Khairatabad) towards Nirankari and Raj Bhavan Road. Similarly, traffic from BRK Bhavan towards NTR Marg will be diverted at Telugu Talli Junction towards Iqbal Minar, Lakadikapul and Ayodhya Junctions. Traffic from Liberty Junction will not be allowed towards Upper Tank Bund and commuters are requested to take a left towards Telugu Talli, Iqbal Minar, Ravindra Bharathi and other alternate roads. Likewise, traffic from Khairatabad market towards Necklace Rotary will be diverted at Khairatabad (Bada Ganesh) towards Sensation Theatre, Rajdoot lane and Lakdikapul.
Cyberabad –
The Cyberabad traffic police will start drunk driving checks across the commissionerate from 8 p.m. on December 31
.The Nehru Outer Ring Road (ORR) will be closed for light motor vehicles, except the vehicles bound towards the RGI Airport from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Similarly, the PVNR Expressway will be closed for vehicles, except for the vehicles bound towards the airport – from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Shilpa Layout flyover, Gachibowli flyover, Bio-diversity flyovers, Shaikpet flyover, Mindspace flyover, Road Number 45 flyover and Durgam Cheruvu Cable Bridge, Cyber Towers flyover, Forum Mall-JNTU flyover, Kaithalapur flyover, Babu Jagjivan Ram flyover in Balanagar and AMB flyover in Kondapur will be closed for traffic between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Rachakonda –
The Outer Ring Road (ORR) will be closed for Light Motor Vehicles (LMV) and passenger vehicles from 11 p.m. of December 31 to 5 a.m. of January 1. However, medium and heavy goods vehicles will be allowed.
The Nagole flyover, Kamineni flyover, LB Nagar flyover, Bairamalguda flyover (Sagar Ring Road), LB Nagar underpass and Chintalkunta underpass will be kept closed for LMV, two-wheelers and passenger vehicles from 10 p.m. of December 31 to 5 a.m. of January 1.