Patna, Oct. 4: Around 300 motorbikes have been confiscated in the first two days of the Puja for rash biking and carrying more than one pillion.

Sources told The Telegraph today that these bikes were confiscated, as the bikers were either riding rashly or carrying more than one pillion. The bikes will not be returned during the four days of festivities, as the roads would be crammed with pandal-hoppers.

“The drive was announced a couple of days back and police personnel have been posted in different places along the roads looking for trouble-mongers. The last two days have seen many seizures. As many as 300 bikers have been caught and their two-wheelers seized. They will not be returned to them till Dussehra. With most of them off the roads, daily commuters and those visiting the pandals would breathe easy,” a senior police officer told The Telegraph today.

“In addition to the existing force, we have got at least 2,500 more personnel for the same. The cops are just about everywhere and people don’t need to worry about anything,” Patna senior superintendent of police Alok Kumar said.

Earlier, the police had said they would be focussing on youths riding bikes with more than the stipulated number of passengers and harassing people, mainly women.

“The drive will continue. Men in civil clothes, too, have been placed around important venues of the Puja. The biking menace needs to be stopped and the police are alert,” another police officer said.

The cops had earlier made it clear that if people apprehend trouble, they can call up any of the senior police officers directly without any hesitation and help would arrive.

“The police are on constant patrol around liquor shops and would ensure that the shops down their shutters by 10pm. Anyone caught flouting the rule will be taken to the police station. Instructions have been given to the different police stations to stay alert, especially at night when the crowd swells. There is a lot of police presence and all of them are working hard,” the police officer said.