Mumbai traffic violations: Govt to introduce ‘one state, one e-challan’ system

In this phase, around 45,000 e-challan devices would be made available by the contractor

IN A first, the Maharashtra government will soon introduce a ‘one state, one e-challan’ system to collect fines from traffic violators. The company bagging the tender would be paid per e-challan, sources told The Indian Express. The project, which will be rolled out phasewise, is expected to be up and running by May in five police commissionarates, namely Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Nagpur. In October 2016, the Mumbai traffic police moved from issuing challans to an e-challan system for collecting fines from traffic offenders on a pilot basis. Now, nearly 55 per cent of the fines is collected through e-challan.

“Last month, a pre-bid meeting with the prospective vendors was organised and the Request For Proposal (RPF) has also been made,” said a senior official from the Home department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
According to sources, the Highway State Police (HSP) will be the nodal agency for the same. “We aim to roll out the ‘one state, one e-challan’ by May in five commissionerates, which would be the phase 1 of the project.

In this phase, around 45,000 e-challan devices would be made available by the contractor,” added the official.
The official added that the vendor would be paid per transaction and would also provide for support staff, training, connectivity, payment-gateway, printer among others. “For every e-challan generated, the contractor would be paid a certain fixed amount. So far in the pilot project carried out by the Mumbai traffic police the MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) was not borne by the government. But in this ‘one state, one e-challan system’, the government will bear even the MRD and a certain amount that is agreed upon between the government and the vendor would be paid to the vendor whenever an e-challan is generated,” explained the official.

“It’s an ambitious project of the government and ours would be the first state to have ‘one state, one e-challan’ system. It will not only bring transparency in the system but also bring down the instances of conflict situations between constables and the violators. It will also help in taking action against habitual offenders,” said Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police, Mumbai Traffic Police.

CCTVs

The e-challan team in Mumbai operates from the fourth floor office of the traffic police headquarters in Worli – 12 buddy pairs work on eight-hour shifts 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. 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 least 10,000 slips a day.