Maharashtra: E-challan for errant vehicle drivers

The women police constables, Dalvi and Lahan, are part of the e-challan team of the Mumbai Traffic Police. “Zebra crossing is meant for pedestrians, so how can motorists halt their vehicle there? They are expected to stop before the line”, says Dalvi. “Maximum challans are issued under this header,” she adds.

The other six types of violations covered by the e-challan team include; fancy number plate, driving triple seat, without helmet, no parking, talking on the mobile phone and without seat belt. The team started operating from January and till now, 9,52,705 e-challans, including challans issued by traffic police on the road, have been issued by it, which is around 3 lakh more than the corresponding period last year.

Last year between January and March, 6,75,323 challans had been issued.

In 2016, the number of fatalities caused by traffic accidents had gone down by 18 per cent compared to 2015 and the Mumbai Traffic Police gives credit to a slew of measures, including e-challans, for the dip in numbers.

“The best part of e-challan is that it cannot be debated. We share electronic evidence with the offender regarding the violation. He cannot contest it and is compelled to foot the fine,” explains joint commissioner of police, traffic , Milind Bharambe.

In total 4,741 CCTV cameras cover the length and breadth of the city’s roads and the e-challan for a particular vehicle is sent to the mobile number registered with it. The team has registration details of vehicles from the RTO’s office.

The e-challan team monitors CCTV footage between 8 am and 8pm everyday and generates at lesat 10,000 slips a day.

A buddy pair is a team of two personnel where one scans the footage and the other issues the challan generates at least 10,000 challans a day.

“Through the technology we are able to enforce traffic rules more effectively,” adds Bharambe.

On the fourth floor office of the traffic police headquarters in Worli where the e-challan team operates from, 12 buddy pairs work on eight-hour shifts each to monitor the camera footage. In all 30 policemen and women are part of the team. While 24 work as buddy pairs, six are in reserve.

“The CCTV footage is monitored between 8am and 8pm as the cameras generate hazy pictures during night time making it difficult to issue challans,” says an officer while explaining why the team operates between 8 am to 8pm.

“Driving on the streets of Mumbai is a frustrating task and when a constable stops you for traffic violation, the first reaction is that of going on a defensive and claiming innocence. Violators seldom agree that they have violated a rule. Sometimes it becomes difficult to argue but now with this e-monitoring system, our jobs have become easier,” Lahane says as she continues to drag grabs on the violation registration forms and generates fresh e-challans.