Bhubaneswar, July 13: Transport authorities have suspended around 1,000 driving licences in the past four months, including 200 for drink driving.

The other violations, which led to the suspension of licences include rash driving and overloading.

Transport officials said the violators would face cancellation of their licences if they were caught one more time. "We are suspending their driving licences for a three-month period. If the violators is caught for the second time, their driving licences would be cancelled," said S.K. Behera, a regional transport officer in Bhubaneswar.

Official statistics revealed that 175 people died in 600 road mishaps in Bhubaneswar in 2015, while 177 people lost their lives in 516 road mishaps in 2014.

Transport officials said almost 40 per cent of road accidents in the city were caused by driving under the influence of alcohol. "We have found a number of youths driving their vehicles in an inebriated state in the late evenings. Though our main focus lies on drink driving, we are also initiating stringent action against overloaded vehicles. Once the licence is suspended, the driver cannot drive vehicles," said a transport official.

The drive was intensified after the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, headed by Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan, directed all the state governments to take stringent measures, including suspension of driving licences of violators.

Subsequently, the state government had directed the concerned regional transport offices to launch a crackdown on all violators.