Police in India’s Gujarat, a dry state where the manufacture or sale and consumption of liquor is prohibited, have arrested over 400 people for consumption or possession of alcohol during the New Year celebrations.
According to the officers, people were held in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city.
On the night of New Year, the Gujarat state police beefed up security measures to keep a check on the nuisance caused by people found drinking in the open or drinking and driving.
“We had stepped up the security and carried out random breath analyser tests to find if people were drunk or not while driving. 368 people were caught for consumption of alcohol and 41 were apprehended for possessing alcohol”, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Control) Vijay Patel.
He further said they were keeping an eye on the celebrations in the city, with the help of over 1,000 CCTV cameras.
Meanwhile, in India’s capital city of New Delhi, police issued as many as 352 challans for people drinking and driving. They said last year the number was over 500.
Indians, just like most people in other parts of the world, usher in the New Year in style, dancing, partying at home or in clubs and hotels, besides travelling to exotic locales within and outside the country.