To upgrade traffic enforcement in the city, the Gurugram police will track violators using cameras installed on private cabs. The city’s traffic police will set up a new control room to keep an eye on the feed from these cab cams, and issue postal and e-challans to traffic violators across the city.

Under the new initiative, the traffic police is in the process of setting up a control room at the traffic tower in Sushant Lok 1, where they will monitor traffic violations and send fine slips to the registered addresses of the violators, the police said, adding that the major focus will be on wrong parking, driving in the wrong lane, speeding, rash driving and jumping red lights.

Police commissioner KK Rao said, “Starting February, don’t be surprised if you are not stopped by an official when you jump a traffic signal or asked to show a driving licence. The slip for paying the fine will land at your doorstep later.” The city police is gearing up to use CCTV cameras, which will be installed on more than 300 vehicles, including 90 motorcycles of Gurugram police. The police said they hoped the initiative served as a deterrent.

Traffic police deployed at major intersections will, meanwhile, keep a check on violators and carry cashless machines where the violator can pay his/her fine on the spot.

Apart from the cameras, around 1,070 police personnel will be deployed across the city who will monitor traffic movement and violations, the police said.

“We will implement the new changes within a month. People often complain that traffic policemen harass them for no reason; with the new plan, this problem will be solved. Now, traffic policemen will not have to halt violators, instead fine slips will directly be sent to the offenders’ addresses (listed during the registration of the vehicle),” Rao said, adding that the control room will monitor the violations.

The police had introduced a cashless enforcement system last year, but they had only 55 handheld machines. On Friday, the police received 200 more machines, using which, violators can pay fines (with their credit or debit cards) on the spot. According to the police, a family member or friend can pay the fine if the violator is not carrying the requisite cards or cash.

The police have roped in a multinational company that has collaborated with private cab aggregators and will be responsible for the installation of cameras and infrastructure in the control room. The company will fix cameras on the cabs. It has developedan application, which will be used by the drivers and riders to capture imagesof the violators, and will be controlled from the control room. The company will pay the cab aggregators to fix these cameras, and police officers will monitor the operations, the police said.

The cameras’ feed will be directly be sent to the control room and they will send postal fine slips directly to the violators. The fine slip will include a grab of the picture and the vehicle registration number,” Rao said.

The police said this initiative will help them keep an eye on offenders in places where policemen are not deployed.

Hitesh Yadav, assistant commissioner of police (headquarters), said the violators will have to pay the fine within two months, or they will be summoned and warrants will be issued by the court against them.

“People do not pay heed to warnings, despite being given two months’ time to pay the fine. If they fail to pay the fine, they will be imprisoned for three months and will have to pay an additional fine of ₹1,000 as penalty,” Yadav said.

First Published: Jan 12, 2019 15:20 IST