Everyone is trying to play their part in curbing down the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Among the various organizations which are working hard in getting rid of the situation, the Police Department should be lauded for the major role that they are playing. Be it maintaining peace and order in the country or making sure that the virus struck people find a place in isolation. Needless to say, they are well exposed out in the environment. In a measure to protect the police force from the infection, Maharashtra Highway Police has released a circular in which they have suspended breath analyser tests needed to check drunk driving.
This circular was issued by Vinay Kargaonkar, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Maharashtra Highway Police, on Monday. The circular which was released states that “Outbreak of coronavirus has been reported in the state. To contain the spread of the virus, the police personnel need to take precautionary measures accordingly. Hence, Traffic Police personnel in all police units should not conduct breath-analyser tests for alcohol consumption by motorists,”
He further stated that the tests will resume as soon as this situation gets in control. He said police personnel are vulnerable to the infection because they have to place the breath-analyser apparatus into the mouth of motorists to check whether they are driving drunk.
While this circular is in action, we request our readers to play their part in dealing with this situation. If drunk driving tests aren’t in place, it doesn’t mean that we should take advantage of this situation. Tests or not, stats still claim that drunk driving takes a lot of lives every year. We as responsible citizens of our country should keep in mind that the police department is working very hard in bringing the situation under control and we should do everything from our end to help the situation rather than making it worse.
We appreciate this circular released by the Maharashtra Highway Police as it will definitely help in making them less vulnerable to the coronavirus. It has already claimed 39 lives in Maharashtra as of yesterday and the masses are still in fear of this virus spreading even further.