Read the following report
which appeared in Hindustan Times ( 15 June ) :
Mumbai traffic police’s E-challan scheme faces road block, only 50k of 8
lakh motorists pay fine
The Mumbai traffic police’s ambitious SMS challan scheme seems to have hit a major road block
with just 50,000 out of the 8 lakh motorists having paid the fine since January
this year.
The glitch has now forced the police to look for temporary
measures-- like sending paper challans to the offenders through courier or
physically trace and summon them to chowkies to pay up-- before alternative
arrangements are made.
“We are exploring
several alternatives to collect the fines before a solution was found for the
present hitch,” joint commissioner of police, traffic, Amitesh Kumar told HT.
This technology enabled the traffic police to start sending
challans to offenders over SMS since January this year by collaborating with
the Road Transport Authority (RTO), which maintains the telephone (mobile) data
bank of the motorists.
As soon as the personnel monitoring the cameras at the
traffic police control room scan the culprit vehicle’s registration number, it
is sent to another set of monitors where the telephone number of the vehicle
owner is traced from the RTO data bank.
Within seconds the e-challan
(denoting the fine) is generated and the text message is sent to the mobile
phone of the motorist through SMS.
Following the receipt of the challan, the
motorist is expected to pay the fine at the chowkie as directed in the challan.
Sources in the
traffic police said that the compliance to the SMS challans has been abysmally
low ever since it’s launch in January this year. Fines for only 50,000 out of
the 8 lakh challans have been deposited so far.
“While in majority of the cases the non-compliance has been
deliberate, in other cases the problem occurs when telephone numbers were not
updated after the vehicle was sold by the original owner. Also change of mobile
number by the vehicle owner without intimating the RTO is the other factor
resulting in the plague,” a senior traffic official said.
As an
immediate solution, the traffic police have earmarked a plan of action which
will be implemented in a phased manner. First, 500 repeat offenders have been
identified against whom more than 2,700 challans are pending at present.
“These
are the repeat violators against whom 5 challans each, or more, have been
pending over the months,” Joint commissioner Kumar said.
Traffic chowkies have
been given the list to physically trace the address of these motorists from RTO
records and summon them to pay up the fine.
In the second phase
of the drive, the traffic police would set it’s target on 2,700 more motorists
against whom 3 or more challans (each) are pending (total 6,000 challans). “We
want to send a message to the violators that there is no let up,” said Kumar.
Meanwhile, another traffic
police official said that the glitch has forced the department to look for
alternatives. “We are exploring options like approaching the (vehicle)
insurance companies for phone number updates of motorists. Side by side, we are
also in discussion with private courier companies for sending paper challans at
the addresses of the offenders,” the official added.
MY SUGGESTION :
Instead of traffic police chasing the offenders , can we make the
car drivers chase the police , for paying up the fines in a hurry – and ensure
that they do not repeat the offence ?
Here is how :
Technology will “ immobilize “ the violating vehicle as soon as it
commits the offence for the third time in a month ( even if the car owner has
paid up fines for earlier offences )
By implementing :
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Dear
Shri Nitin Gadkariji :
For implementing such a technological solution , we don’t need to
wait for Elon Musk to set up e-Car plant in India ( - although he will love
such a challenge ! )
If challenged , the technologists of our
Car Manufacturers and ISRO , can put this solution in place within one year !
What is holding us back
?
17 June 2017
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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