Now Pune traffic Police to send your challan with photo at home via post
Pune : In age of e-mail, inland letters are nowadays considered part of old age charm. So when Parmeshwar, a resident of Nigdi, received one such letter delivered by the postman, he was curious who sent him such a letter.
Actually it was from the Pune traffic police asking to visit the local Nigdi traffic division to pay a fine of Rs 200 for standing on the zebra crossing at Bhel Chowk in Nigdi on September 9 at 11.11 am. The letter also contained photo of his motorcycle.
Officials from the traffic branch of Pune city police have launched the ambitious e-challan project to penalize traffic offenders. Now, traffic rule violators will be caught on camera and e-challans will be delivered at their homes. The challan will also include a photograph as evidence of the misdemeanor.
DCP (traffic branch) Dr Pravin Mundhe said, “There are 1236 CCTV cameras at various chowks in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad areas. The live feed is monitored from the CCTV control room located at the police commissioner’s office. We have deployed traffic police men in day and night shifts whose is job is find out traffic violations.”
Police officials said that the project started in June last year and they used to find out name and address of the vehicle from a software which has details of all the vehicles from RTO office. Traffic policemen used to personally visit homes of people to serve the challan. However soon it overburdened cops as the number of traffic offenders started multiplying. Therefore it was decided to send challans via India Post as only physical address is maintained by the RTO. Once email addresses are accepted by RTO, challans will be sent on email, police said.
Elaborating about the project DCP Mundhe added, “If the person fails to pay the compounding fine within seven days of receiving the letter, we will file case against him/her in the court”.
Police officials said that the letters are expected to reach destinations within 2-3 days from date of sending.
A police officer said, “The biggest impact of the system would be identification of habitual offenders. As per the Motor Vehicle Act, habitual offenders, who could not be identified so far, will be caught on camera and will have to shell out hefty fine for repeated offences”.
