Chennai

“We’ve already started making our own hand sanitisers with the help of qualified persons,” City Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan said on Wednesday when this paper contacted him to know how the city police are handling the shortage of hand sanitiser. Police are also distributing handbills to promote better hygiene among public to fight the spread of coronavirus. 

Even as some states have decided to do away with breath analysers in the wake of corona outbreak, traffic cops in Chennai deputed to check for drunken driving have been ordered to use mask compulsory. “Motorists will not be asked to blow on cops’ face also,” said a senior officer adding that cops have been told to use breath analysers from a safe distance. 

Though the breath analysers were in use for last so many years, the traffic police had been till recently using the much-proved technique of making motorists to blow on to their face to detect drunken driving. “We have strictly told them not to make motorists to blow on to their face to smell out the alcohol and instead make use of the gadget,” a police officer said. 

Police officers also said that with the government ordering the closure of all bars in the State till March 31 to fight spread of COVID-19, drunk driving cases have come down drastically in the city. 

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