the goan I network
PANAJI
The next time Goa’s policemen stomp out of their barracks and police stations to carry out their offensives against drunken driving, they can do it with their chests out and heads held high.
For, amongst the nearly 6000-strong force only a miniscule fraction, just 13 of them, are compulsive tipplers.
This was revealed in answers to queries posed under the Right to Information Act as to how many police personnel suffer from addiction to alcohol.
All of the 33 units of the Goa Police Department, including the 27 police stations and units like the ANC, Crime Branch and Coastal Police, responded to the RTI application and the responses have revealed that collectively there are only 13 policemen who are struggling to cope with their alcohol addiction.
Three cops each from the Mapusa, Margao and Cuncolim police stations and two each from Maina-Curtorim and Anjuna are alcoholics the responses given by the respective Sub-Divisional Police Officers of these jurisdictions have said.
A couple of the 33 units of the police department have said that no such records of alcoholics amongst their men are maintained. In one particular case, that of Ponda, DySP Mahesh Gaonkar has rejected giving the information. Quoting sections of the RTI law, Gaonkar reasoned that giving out the information could cause “unwarranted invasion of privacy” of the police personnel.
Notwithstanding that some of the 33 units have said they do not maintain such records of personal nature about their
Drunken driving: 315 cases booked
PANAJI: Goa Police’s Traffic Cell booked 315 cases of driving under the influence of alcohol in the offensive against drunken driving on Friday. The operation was jointly conducted by the Goa Traffic Police and the District Police at nearly 100 locations and was personally monitored by DGP Dr Muktesh Chander, and IGP Jaspal Singh. The vehicles and the documents of the violators were seized in all the 315 cases. Pointing out that despite publicising the drive in advance over 300 cases were booked, the Traffic Police said in a statement that more such offensives against drunken driving will be conducted without any pre-announcement of the date and time. >> See pg 3
