19 December,2014 09:00 AM IST | | Vinay Dalvi
The amount was collected from January to November this year; the highest sum of Rs 4.17 crore came in from people who parked their cars in no-parking zones
Traffic police in Mumbai have managed to collect a whopping Rs 20 crore in fines from citizens this year. The figures are from January to November, with unauthorised parking raking in the maximum amount of fines. Cops collected Rs 4.17 crore from owners who parked their vehicles in no-parking zones.
Police said they have procured 12 new breath analysers which can take pictures of the person taking the test. Cops will conduct nakabandi from December 20 to January 3. File pic for representation
After this came drivers fined for drink-driving, which brought in Rs 3.21 crore for the department. The traffic police had managed to collect Rs 23 crore last year. Since December's collections haven't been added to this year's tally, cops hope they will surpass last year's figures after they are aggregated.
"We keep on carrying anti-drink-driving campaigns around New Year's Eve, Gatari Amavasya and on Fridays and Saturdays. A substantial amount is collected due to this. It is also important that drunk drivers are caught; very few people can dare to drive drunk in the city," said Dr B K Upadhyay, joint commissioner of police (traffic).
The next big earner came from those who jumped red lights, which earned the traffic department Rs 2.26 crore. "Around Rs 2 crore were generated in fines for driving without helmets, R81 lakh for sporting tinted glasses, Rs 67 lakh from vehicles standing on or ahead of zebra crossings, Rs 55 lakh for jumping lanes," said Pratap Dighavkar, deputy commissioner of police, Mumbai Traffic.
The police said they collected around Rs 29,000 from taxi and auto rickshaw drivers who refused to ply. Rs 1 lakh was collected from people who were caught talking on mobile phones while driving, said traffic officials.
Happy New Year
Police will continue to relentlessly crack down on drink- driving, especially with the New Year celebrations approaching. "We have got 12 new breath analysers this year, which can take pictures of the person being tested on the device.
We will have around 25 checkposts in the city from December 20 to January 3 every day. We will catch drunk drivers," Upadhyay added. Police said nakabandis would start at 8 pm and continue till 3 am.
