Mumbai: In an effort to bring the police department in sync with the e-payments trend, the Mumbai Police are exploring options to make all their monetary transactions cashless.
On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a slew of measures to make the country’s economy cashless. Since then, many government departments and private entities have started moving towards electronic fund transfers and e-wallets.
According to police sources, a meeting was held last week between the Mumbai Police top brass and officials of Axis Bank, where the police department has its account.
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“We pay salaries through online transfers,” said a senior police officer. “In order to make the rest of our working cashless, we asked the bank officials to suggest measures. The officials will soon be presenting options, after which we will select the one best suited to our needs.” Currently, when it comes to fines for misdemeanours — violations of licensing rules for commercial establishments, overshooting deadlines for use of loudspeakers or other related violations — and for offences where bail is granted on the spot, the Mumbai Police mostly collect cash. All this money collected by police stations or units is then deposited into the police department’s account.
The department is looking for a solution through which the money can be credited to the police account directly, which will also ensure transparency. “We are looking for solutions that let people swipe their debit or credit cards, or transfer money using e-wallets” another officer said. “We will need to take into account the equipment that will have to be installed at police stations and other units, as well as the fact that our staff will have to be trained in its use. We have requested the bank officials to provide solutions with all this in mind.”
After demonetisation, when offenders did not have currency to pay fines, the Mumbai Traffic Police confiscated driving licences, letting them arrange for cash and reclaim their licences after paying fines.
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Recently, the Mumbai Traffic Police started issuing e-challans to offenders, which let them pay fines electronically, using a variety of methods, including debit or credit cards, e-wallets or mobile banking.