Challans see sharp spike, but only a few reach violators

NOIDA: The installation of speedcams on expressways has led to an almost five-time jump in number of traffic challans issued to violators, but lack of address verification and postal delays have hampered the process of collecting fines.




Speeding on expressways has attracted the most number of challans until November this year, seeing an almost 12-time rise to 1.7 lakh violations from a mere 14,452 a year ago. But the rate of fines being actually deposited is abysmally low.

While the traffic management system has sent as many as 23,555 challans for speeding on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, only 610 violators have come forward to deposit fines with the traffic police.

Police officers said the reasons for this abysmal rate of fines being deposited ranged from violators not updating their addresses to notices not reaching in time.

This gap has led to repeat offenders getting away, feel traffic officers. For instance, Delhi resident Vishvajeet Singh, who was issued as many as 72 challans for speeding on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway between August 30, 2016, and February 28 this year, was not found in the address where he had been getting the notices.

While his challan details referred to him as a resident of Kotla-Mubarakpur in Delhi, a visit to the spot revealed he had been staying there as a tenant and had vacated the house in March 2017.

While some violators simply ignore the challans, others get to know about them only when a bailable warrant is issued against them from the CJM court — a process which takes at least six months.

“It takes one or two months for sending these challans to the court, which then issues bailable warrants that go to the local police station. Most violators get to know about the challans only when they get the warrant,” said an officer.

Traffic cops blamed the lack of address verification and postal delays.

“There is no mechanism to check the address of a violator. Most people don’t get their address details updated and challans continue to reach their old houses. There are about 10-15 such cases every month where people come with their court summons, months after the challan has been issued, and complain that they did not get intimation,” an officer said.

The tardy process of sending challans can also be attributed to the cost involved for postal service. According to police sources, when the challans reach them, a copy is sent to the violator through registered post, each of which costs about Rs 6. For those residing in other districts, sending a challan may cost up to Rs 40. The traffic police are dependent on the Noida Authority for funds for sending these posts.

The traffic police are now preparing to shift to postcards, which cost about 40-50 paise each, from registered/speed posts to send the challans.

SP (traffic) Anil Jha said they were in talks with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to generate postcard prints of challans so that a copy can be sent in the postcard format. “We hope the process will complete soon,” he said.