651 illegal vehicle owners booked

SPECIAL DRIVE Police earn Rs5.96 lakh by catching those plying passengers illegally during the drive from March 20 to April 26

The Navi Mumbai traffic police have booked 651 vehicle owners for illegally transporting passengers during a special drive they conducted last one month.

The drive was conducted across all 20 traffic units in the city between March 20 and April 26, and the police earned a total of Rs5.96 lakh as fine. The violators were booked under sections 66 and 192 of the Motor Vehicle Act.

Private vehicles have no per mit to carry passengers in the city. By doing so, they are violating traffic and road safety rules, a senior police officer said.

Arvind Salve, deputy commissioner of police ( traffic), said, “These violators get passengers near the railway station or at other public places. They offer to drop people to far- off at lower rates.”

“We want people t o stop trusting drivers blindly. They need to consider the capacity of the vehicle they are travelling in. Even when the vehicle has the capacity to carry up to eight passengers, 15 to 20 people are being ferried, increasing the risk of accidents,” another officer said, on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

In 2015, the police collected a total of Rs20, 91, 450 by taking action against 1,508 vehicles that carried passengers illegally. More such drives will be conducted in the next few months, Salve said.

Apart from this, the police have registered 577 drink driving cases in the f irst three months of this year and col- lected Rs7.30 lakh as fine.

“We concentrated on a few spots such as CBD Belapur, Va s h i , Ko n p h a t a in New Panvel and Palm Beach road. These areas see heavy traffic throughout the day. Our officials, equipped with breath analyzers, conducted special drives and took action against everyone found drunk at the wheel,” Salve said.

“Consuming alcohol prior to driving impairs the drivi ng abilit y and i ncreases the risk of crashing, causing serious injury or death. Statistics show that intoxicated drivers involved in fatal crashes are three times more likely to have been speeding or not wearing a seat belt than sober drivers,” another officer said.