BENGALURU: With Karnataka government partially rolling back enhanced fines for traffic violations on Saturday, traffic police have categorically turned down the offenders’ plea that they be refunded the extra money they were made to cough up during the 18 days when the stiffer penalties were in force.
The enhanced fines were introduced on September 3. In many instances, penalties had gone up 10 times for offences. Traffic offenders in Bengaluru city paid nearly Rs 2 crore for not wearing helmet, driving without licence and lacking vehicle insurance in the past 18 days.
As the news of the partial rollback came in on Sunday, the violators wanted to know whether the traffic police will return the difference amount on producing the receipts. “No,” joint commissioner of police (traffic) BR Ravikanthe Gowda told TOI.
Gowda said the fines collected in the 18 days were fixed by the government and cops implemented it.
“Now, the government has revised the fines and we will implement it immediately. But there is no question of returning the money. We’ve no control over the matter as the fines are decided by the government,” he said.
Riders without helmet paid Rs 74 lakh extra as fine
Statistics from Bengaluru traffic police said riders not wearing helmet (including those riding pillion) paid Rs 74 lakh extra. “In the past 18 days when the fine was Rs 1,000 for this offence, we collected nearly Rs 1.5 crore from riders not wearing helmets. Now, the fine has been halved to Rs 500. Going by the revised fine, the riders paid Rs 74 lakh more. Similarly, the fine for driving without licence has been slashed from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1,000 and we collected Rs 38.6 lakh under this head. The violators paid Rs 30.8 lakh more than what the revised fines would have entailed,” a traffic police officer said.
The fine for driving/riding without insurance has been halved to Rs 1,000. “A total of Rs 5.8 lakh was collected from the offenders. With the revised tariff, we would have received Rs 2.9 lakh less,” he said. In all, those guilty of helmet, DL and insurance violations paid Rs 1 crore extra.
The enhanced fines were introduced on September 3. In many instances, penalties had gone up 10 times for offences. Traffic offenders in Bengaluru city paid nearly Rs 2 crore for not wearing helmet, driving without licence and lacking vehicle insurance in the past 18 days.
As the news of the partial rollback came in on Sunday, the violators wanted to know whether the traffic police will return the difference amount on producing the receipts. “No,” joint commissioner of police (traffic) BR Ravikanthe Gowda told TOI.
Gowda said the fines collected in the 18 days were fixed by the government and cops implemented it.
“Now, the government has revised the fines and we will implement it immediately. But there is no question of returning the money. We’ve no control over the matter as the fines are decided by the government,” he said.
Riders without helmet paid Rs 74 lakh extra as fine
Statistics from Bengaluru traffic police said riders not wearing helmet (including those riding pillion) paid Rs 74 lakh extra. “In the past 18 days when the fine was Rs 1,000 for this offence, we collected nearly Rs 1.5 crore from riders not wearing helmets. Now, the fine has been halved to Rs 500. Going by the revised fine, the riders paid Rs 74 lakh more. Similarly, the fine for driving without licence has been slashed from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1,000 and we collected Rs 38.6 lakh under this head. The violators paid Rs 30.8 lakh more than what the revised fines would have entailed,” a traffic police officer said.
The fine for driving/riding without insurance has been halved to Rs 1,000. “A total of Rs 5.8 lakh was collected from the offenders. With the revised tariff, we would have received Rs 2.9 lakh less,” he said. In all, those guilty of helmet, DL and insurance violations paid Rs 1 crore extra.
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