Bhubaneswar: ‘4,714 people punished for drinking liquor in public’

BHUBANESWAR: There has been a significant rise in consumption of liquor in public places and nuisance by drunkards in the capital city, data shared by the commissionerate police has revealed.
While only 2,414 people were caught and fined for drinking alcohol in public places in 2020, the number of such offenders has already increased to 4,714 in the first six months this year, according to the data.
The drunkards were caught in parks, roadside eateries, under flyovers and outside liquor outlets. The police imposed fines between Rs 200 and Rs 500 on each violator and collected around Rs 19.27 lakh in fines from them from January to June this year. At least 697 drunkards were penalised in January, 420 in February, 760 in March, 535 in April, 1,004 in May and 1,298 in June under different police limits here.
Police had collected about Rs 12.25 lakh in fines from 2,414 people for consuming liquor in public places in 2020. The police attributed poor enforcement to the Covid outbreak. “We carried out enforcement against drunkards in public places in January, February and March last year and collected around Rs 10 lakh fine. But enforcement was halted due to the Covid outbreak. Our focus was to enforce Covid appropriate behaviour andlockdown,” a police officer said.
Police said their enforcement gathered pace this year as a result of which the number of violators caught has increased compared to the previous year. All police stations were asked to intensify patrolling after evening.
The police said citizens can alert them about people consuming alcohol in public places and creating nuisance. “We are not claiming that people, who were earlier consuming alcohol in public places, have stopped drinking. They might have changed their location. We urge people to inform the police if they come across drinking at public places,” the police officer said. Police said many people avoid bars as they cannot afford it. “They prefer to purchase liquor from outlets and choose isolated places to drink with friends. We caught mostly youngsters near parks, behind betel shops and abandoned houses,” the officer said.
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