This Article is From Oct 26, 2015

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Urged to Lower Drinking Age to 21 Years

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Urged to Lower Drinking Age to 21 Years

Community Against Drunken Driving (CADD) founder Prince Singhal presented to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a document making recommendations to lower the legal age for drinking in the city from 25 to 21 years.

New Delhi: A Delhi social organisation today urged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to lower to 21 the legal age for drinking in the national capital and form a regulatory authority or an agency to tackle drunk driving in Delhi.

Community Against Drunken Driving (CADD) founder Prince Singhal presented to Mr Kejriwal a document making recommendations to lower the legal age for drinking in the city from 25 to 21 years and on how to tackle the menace of driving under the influence of alcohol.

According to document, annually over 1,500 people are killed on the roads of the national capital.

Besides a structured commission or regulatory body to be headed by the chief minister, the NGO has suggested a separate committee to reduce dependence on police department to enforce the Delhi excise law.

Mr Singhal said the chief minister acknowledged the immediate need to address the four Es -- (Education, Enforcement, Engineering and Environment) -- of road safety to prevent drunken driving and curb underage drinking.

He said he would meet the chief ministers of Haryana and Punjab for lowering the legal drinking age to 21 and the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry to raise the drinking age to 21 years from 18 years.
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