The Delhi Traffic Police (DTP) has finally started to reap dividends from its ambitious e-challan system to identify serial offenders and take punitive action. In one-and-a-half months of its soft launch, DTP have been able to indict 387 errant drivers for recurring offences.
The new project helps DTP identify lawbreakers since data of prosecutions issued by the handheld devices is fed into the central server making details of traffic crooks accessible.
Since its August trial launch, Traffic Police have issued 3.93 lakh challans for various traffic violations in the Capital using handheld devices. “The system has started to detect recurrent offenders, who have been issued exacting penalties for the second and subsequent offences of the same violation in less than a year. Out of the total prosecutions issued using e-challans, 387 challans have been issues till now for persistent offences,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Anil Shukla.
The highest repeat offences are committed by Grameen Sewa vehicles, with 212 challans issued to them. The usual suspects in the challans for repeat offences include 76 to three-wheeler scooter rickshaw (TSRs), 28 to RTVs, 11 to light Goods Vehicles (lGVs), eight to HTVs and three to private cars. So far 37 prosecutions for second and subsequent offences have been made to buses, out of which 30 buses are registered in Delhi. The other seven buses booked for repeat traffic offences include five registered in Uttar Pradesh and two in Rajasthan. All repeat offenders have been issued court challans, which will be settled by local magistrates.
According to DTP, over 6,000 challans are being issued per day using handheld devices. “The system is now operational in all the traffic circles of Delhi with the help of 1,200 handheld devices. Most of the devices are now connected to the central server and as soon as technical glitches are resolved and a technical review of the system made, it will be launched on a larger scale. The devices will be equipped to facilitate payment of challans issued on the spot with the help of credit and debit cards. The e-challan project — conceived during the Commonwealth Games — had faced inordinate delays.