CM orders action against hotels running late and drink-and-drive campaign

MUMBAI: After facing flak from the Opposition on Sunday’s hit-and-run case in which the son of a senior leader of his party is involved, chief minister Eknath Shinde on Monday ordered the police to act against hotels and bars that run their businesses beyond permissible hours. He also asked the police to start a drink-and-drive campaign and take action against offenders.

Mihir Shah, the absconding accused in the incident, in which a woman died, is the son of deputy leader of Shiv Sena Rajesh Shah.

“I have directed the police commissioner to take action against all the hotels found operating till late night and cancel their licences. The drink-and-drive campaign will be done on a big scale to curb repetition of accidents similar to the one that occurred on Sunday,” Shinde said at the BMC headquarters where he had reached to review flood mitigation work. “No one will be spared, no matter their political connection or wealth. The lives of the poor are important – the deceased was someone’s wife, daughter and sister.”

This is the third hit-and-run case in three months that has courted controversy over alleged police inaction. An allegedly drunk minor ran his Porsche over two techies driving a Pulsar in Pune in May, and in the same month a woman and her three children were killed by two youths driving an SUV on the wrong side allegedly under the influence of ganja in Jalgaon.