Hyderabad: The Telangana government has signed a MoU with Mission Smart Ride (MSR), an NGO, and some other organisations to train the staffers of bars and restaurants to bring down drunk driving accidents and to strictly follow the rule not to serve liquor to those below the age of 21.
Through this MoU, the Mission Smart Ride will work with all bar and restaurant managements and ensure that they are equipped with breath analyzers so that people exiting the bar knows their blood alcohol level based on which cabs or driver can be provided.
Though the MoU proposed a levy of 0.1 per cent to 0.5 per cent tax on every sale of alcohol stating that this amount can be used for road safety issues, officials made it clear that legal opinion has to be taken on levying the tax.
Telangana transport minister P. Mahender Reddy said transport and excise departments have taken a slew of measures to bring down the accident rate, particularly drunk driving. Referring to the Ramya accident case, he said the government has fixed a target of bringing down the accident rate by 50 per cent on state roads by 2020 for which an exclusive road safety department has also been proposed.
Mission Smart Ride CEO Nanda Sandilya said the idea behind signing the MoU was to carry out breath analyzer tests in all bars and liquor serving establishments in the city with the help of the government and its enforcement agencies along with the NGO.
As part of the MoU, Mission Smart Ride has come out with 13 commandments to achieve zero drunk driving. The partners in the MoU along with Mission Smart Ride will come up with mobile phone applications with the help of the government. The app will put drivers in touch with those who have consumed alcohol above the permissible limit.
Uber is one of the eight companies that have come forward to be a part of the government’s initiative. The taxi aggregator service will provide free journeys to first time users and discounted rides to pre-existing users if they have consumed alcohol beyond permissible limits, said Uber’s Telangana state general manager Deepak Reddy.
