Police to issue e-challans via speed post to recover fines

Mumbai: Initiated in November last year, the e-challan system of Mumbai’s Traffic Police (MTP) began with the aim of going cashless, so as to bypass corruption in the department. But the system seems to have developed some glitches along the road. The traffic department has so far issued close to 32 lakh e-challans, but only 10 lakh violators have paid up. The falling recovery rate is due to many reasons, one of which is that users fail to receive e-challans as their contact numbers have not been updated with the Regional Transport Office (RTO). To counter that, the MTP will now issue e-challans via speed post on the registered address of violators to ensure speedy recovery of fines.

Many traffic violators have been taking advantage of the system and have chosen to ignore messages to pay up their fines. It is ironical that the cops are now having to recourse to old-school methods for collecting fines in cash. By using the speed post facility, the recovery rate is expected to rise by a good 20 per cent at least. Violators can pay their fines at the nearest post office and clear their pending logs.

Speaking to The Asian Age, Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said, “The traffic violators have taken the traffic cops for granted, and hence we had to resort to the old methods. It has been a year since the e-challan system started and the recovery rate has fallen badly.” Mr Kumar added, “We hope the recovery rates rise after taking the old road of taking fine in cash and impounding licences.”

Technical glitches

• The system for sending e-challans on mobiles is faulty
• Often, wrong images are sent in the form of video grabs
• E-challans are sometimes sent despite the police receiving payments
• E-challan are sometimes sent even if no traffic norm has been violated