MTP sends traffic violators with e-challan reminders

Deadline to clear pending e-challans is November 15

In a bid to increase e-challan recovery, the Mumbai Traffic Police (MTP) have sent out text messages to traffic violators who have pending echallans of more than Rs 5,000. Police have asked the violators to clear the fine till November 15, failing which they will have to face legal proceedings. These messages were rolled out on Monday and a recovery of whopping Rs 30 lakh has been recorded since then.

Recently, the state highway traffic police had written a letter to MTP, asking them to speed up the e-challan recovery process after 26.35 lakh pending e-challans of city motorists were found to be exceeding Rs 80 crore. MTP then came up with a plan to send text messages to traffic violators who had pending echallans of Rs 5,000 or more. A senior traffic official said that from Monday, more than 10,000 people were sent such messages. The message states the pending amount that a violator owes, along with the warning that the deadline to clear the dues is November 15.

If a violator fails to pay the pending e-challans, they will face legal proceedings. Elaborating on the process, Pravinkumar Padwal, additional commissioner of police (traffic) said, “The violator will be issued court summons if the e-challans are not cleared till November 15. If the violator is unwilling to pay the e-challans even after the court asks them to, a case will be lodged against them and police will provide the photographic evidence to build a case.”

Since Monday, over 320 violators have paid the e-challans worth Rs 30 lakh, said Madhukar Pandey, joint commissioner of police (traffic). Pandey added, “On Wednesday, MTP recovered pending e-challans worth Rs 7 lakh and the figure is likely to rise as November 15 comes closer. We have tried many ways to recover the fines, but now the violators will have to walk up to the court if they do not oblige.”

The city traffic police are also in the process of tyingup with vehicle insurance companies in a bid to speed up pending e-challan recovery.

This way, police are compelling the violators to clear the pending e-challans before renewing their vehicle insurance. With this new way of recovery, the insurance companies will have access to the e-challan system and would ask the violators to pay the pending fine at the time of insurance renewal. If one refuses to pay the fines, their vehicle insurance will not be renewed.

The discussion to implement the plan is in its final stages and should be rolled out in the beginning of next year.