Assam trains guns on booze-induced car deaths

Battle-hardened in counter insurgency operations over the decades that have considerably waned, Assam Police has a new enemy on its sights, writes ETV Bharat's Sanjib Kr Baruah.

New Delhi: The last day of the year and the first day of the new year are dreaded days in Assam’s calendar, a state known for its love for "the bottle". The number of deaths just due to drunken driving in these two days invariably spill into three figures.

The sheer enormity of the number of deaths and vehicle accidents on these two days has got full attention of the Assam Police this time around where a different strategy has to be devised by a force long used to combating insurgency that had affected the state for decades.

“This New Year’s Eve try not to be our guests, free entry for rash drivers, drunk drivers, other eligible violators,” reads a Whatsapp message posted by Assam Police in a quirky message to irresponsible and especially drunk revelers on New Year’s Day. This and many similar messages have gone viral.

A wizened Saddam Hussain, driving his battered Maruti Ritz cab, mouthed: “Assam Police has successfully put the scare into people of driving drunk. Besides being locked up, the enormity of fines imposed and the cumbersome process of going to courts to retrieve the seized documents like driving licenses and registration papers has truly hit home. No one wants to drink and drive now.”

“There’s been a lot of talk about it in the drivers’ community. All of us are very happy about it as we have seen so many vehicle accidents and deaths right before our eyes in especially on December 31 and January 1,” he added.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, the state’s DGP Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta said, “we have launched a big time and very focused effort to beat deaths due to vehicle accidents that are caused by drunkenness. It is a process initiated by the chief minister and the Assam Police has jumped headlong into it.”

Simultaneously, the public pronouncements of a forceful CM on news channels have done the trick. CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s quirky takes, often bordering on the humorous have spread mirth among law abiders and fear in tipplers behind the wheel, have too gone viral.

Sarma, who took to twitter wrote, "This message from @assampolice for the New Year’s eve is loud and clear! Stay safe."

According to the 2019-20 figures of India’s Health and Family Welfare Statistics (HFWS), a report brought out by the ministry of health and family welfare, about 60 per cent of men in the 15-54 age group consume alcohol in Assam while more than 26 per cent of the state’s women drink.

Both the figures are the highest in India.

The respective national figures are about 30 per cent of men in the 15-54 group and just a little more than 1 per cent for women.