Nagpur: Errant motorists in Nagpur owe more than Rs 13 crore in unpaid traffic fines. The dues have been mounting since the state police rolled out e-challan system in January 2019. Latest figures show that nearly half the offenders are not paying the fines. In all, 47.73% of fines issued from February 8, 2019 to October 15, 2020 remain unpaid.
Sitabuldi traffic zone has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest unpaid fine amount in city. The zone is yet to recover over Rs 2.31crore from 46,731 violators. It is followed by MIDC where 30,832 violators have defaulted on fines to the tune of over Rs 1.51 crore. Cotton Market zone is third with 31,025 violators owing over Rs 1.48 crore.
The traffic police are now focusing on recovering fines against challans issued through hand-held devices on the spot. The traffic police continue to issued e-challans generated through CCTV cameras despite poor recovery of dues.
Figures obtained from the traffic police reveal that 6,34,261 challans were issued until October 15 using hand-held devices on which police personnel enter the licence number of offending drivers and chassis number of vehicles into a database. The devices also allow the personnel to click pictures of violations on the spot to minimise chances of motorists contesting the circumstances under which they were issued fines.
Here the recovery rate is a bit better with 4.83 lakh violators paying Rs 14.03 crore fine. 1,52,079 violators booked in this mode have also defaulted to the tune of Rs 77.69 lakh.
The unpaid dues are majorly from CCTV camera cases as police cannot collect fine immediately. Of the 1.49 lakh e-challans issued through CCTV cameras, only 32,827 have paid fines amounting to Rs 1.05 crore, while 1.16 lakh violators are yet to pay Rs 5.04 crore.
Traffic cops deployed at various intersections in the city admitted recovery of fines from violators was an uphill task. “The arrears have shot up since the introduction of the system as offenders do not pay penalty despite being sent SMSes and reminders,” they said.