The e-challan system has proved so successful that the Chennai City Traffic Police (CCTP) has recovered the Rs.2.83 crore it spent on procuring and commissioning the hand-held devices, in just four months.
The system, used for imposing spot fines, was inaugurated on June 28. The CCTP's monthly average fine collection until June was around Rs.70 lakh a month. This works out to Rs.2.8 crore for four months. But, in the four months since the launch of the system, the fine collected has been over Rs.5.8 crore.
Even when the cost of implementation of the e-challan system is deducted from this additional Rs.3 crore that the CCTP was able to collect in fines, it still leaves a surplus of about Rs.17 lakh in the government kitty. Sanjay Arora, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said: “All the money raised through fine goes back to the road-user. We use the money to instal traffic signals, temporary barricades, and road markings.”
He added that the detailed list of expenditure would be put up on the CCTP's Facebook page shortly.
Until June, an average of 3,500 traffic offences was being booked each day. This had shot up to 10,000 cases a day by October, Mr.Arora said. “One of the factors behind this is the introduction of the e-challan system which has made registering and maintaining offence registers easier.”
Admitting that an increase in fine collection is a very narrow way to look at the performance of the traffic police, he said the department is in the process of setting up an internal review mechanism. “Traffic offences that have the potential to harm other road-users, such as signal jumping and rash driving, would receive greater priority,” he said.
Explaining that between 200 and 210 hand-held devices are being used every day, Mr.Arora said that spot fining has gone paperless. “Even the suburban areas would be brought under this system very soon. I would request motorists to pay fine only through the e-challan system. Each offence is digitally recorded and a receipt automatically registered. ”
In case of any complaints with regard to the misuse of the devices by field officials, motorists can call 28521323 or send a text message to 9003130103, Mr.Arora added.
P.N. Mahadevan, Managing Director of Purple Infotech Limited, which implemented the e-challan system, said that spot credit card payment of fine would be introduced by December.
