e-Challan project grounded,but for now

It was in June that the police had introduced e-challaning in the district and tied up with an Andhra Pradesh-based company to provide the infrastructure. The company had provided server and hand devices to the police which is priced at Rs 45,000 per hand set. Initially,the police had purchased six instruments for the district. The state government was planning to extend the facility to other districts as well and the Rs 45,000 per device cost has not gone down well with it.

Police say that since the company was demanding an exorbitant price and since they have been unable to agree on the terms,the company has removed its server. They also add that with plans afoot to start e-challaning in other district,the project would have cost the state exchequer crores of rupees.

“Our cops are challaning manually now and this would continue till we buy new devices which would be only after the bidding. The previous devices did not fit in our bill and this led us to roll back the project,” said Maneesh Choudhary,Superintendent of Police. The police have now tied up with Haryana Electronics Development Corporation (HARTRON) to invite tenders for infrastructure for e-challaning. Police officials added that the “ideal” price tag for such devices should be between Rs 10000 to Rs 15000.

Explaining the reason for bidding for infrastructure,Choudhary said,“Inviting tenders would invite more players in the field which would help us negotiate on the price tag.” The district was the second in the country to start the facility of e-challaning. Apart from details of traffic violations,the police had also compiled data of vehicle registrations of Punjab,Haryana,Chandigarh and Andhra Pradesh so that all information was available to the cops at the click of button.