More than 500 people were prosecuted across Kolkata and around 70 in the Bidhannagar commissionerate area for violation of traffic rules on Sashthi night
and Saptami morning, police said.
According to Kolkata police, 257 people were prosecuted for driving two-wheelers without wearing a helmet between Friday night and Saturday morning and 163 motorcyclists were prosecuted for carrying extra riders.
“As many as 163 people were booked for carrying more than one pillion rider,” said an officer in the traffic department.
The police set up pickets and check-posts where vehicles were stopped and checked at random.
An officer said 49 motorists were prosecuted for drink driving on Friday night and early on Saturday. Prosecutions for drink driving on a single night was more compared with any other day, the officer said.
Most of the prosecutions, the police said, were reported from EM Bypass, parts of south Kolkata and Central Avenue in north Kolkata.
An officer at Lalbazar said 60 people had been arrested for rash and negligent driving on Sashthi night.
“No major incident of law and order or crime was reported on the first day of the festive season,” a senior officer at the city police headquarters said.
Officers of Bidhannagar police said at least 70 people were prosecuted for drink driving on the night of Sashthi and till 8pm on Saptami in various places, including Salt Lake, New Town, Rajarhat, Baguiati, Lake Town and Kaikhali.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said most of the prosecutions involved two-wheeler-riders accused of offences such as riding without wearing a helmet and riding in a negligent manner.
In Salt Lake and New Town, the police came across revellers riding two-wheelers or driving cars in a highly intoxicated state.
Apart from booking offenders, the police impounded many of the vehicles. Most of the cases were reported from the Major Arterial Road in New Town, VIP Road and streets in Salt Lake.