Police to crack the whip on traffic violators over unpaid fines
The e-challan system, which was launched in November last year, was introduced with a view to curb corruption at the ground level.
Mumbai: With nearly 10 lakh e-challans that were issued for traffic violations by the Mumbai traffic Police (MTP) having remained unpaid since the system was started, officials say they will now start impounding the licences of the traffic violators who have unpaid e-challans on their names. This move has been taken as a last resort as the Mumbai traffic police has to recover an amount in excess of rs 20 lakh from the unpaid e-challans. According to officials, the traffic police had offered violators an option to make payments in cash, or via credit/debit card or through a mobile wallet service provider at two traffic chowkies.
The e-challan system, which was launched in November last year, was introduced with a view to curb corruption at the ground level. However, owing to the laidback attitude by traffic violators and their unwillingness to pay fines, the traffic police has gone back to the old methods of impounding licences and collecting on-the-spot fines from both new and pending violators. Another reason for abandoning the e-challan and impounding licences was first taken in May after the collection rate of fines saw a huge dip of 25 per cent, an all-time low for the Mumbai traffic police.
Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) told The Asian Age, “The officers were earlier sent to the violator’s address to collect fines, but it is practically impossible to do it on a daily basis, hence, every vehicle is stopped if it has been found to have violated any traffic rules; and if any fines are pending, it is collected right away.”
Justifying the going back to the old ways, the police has collected more than 30 per cent extra than what it used to collect. “The cash inflow has doubled due to this and the backlog is also reducing,” Mr Kumar said.
The traffic police has also tied up with Paytm, asking it to get mobile kiosks at the nakabandi spots. This initiative was started at the Bandra-Worli sealink and in another area in Bandra (west).