Amount has been paid against e-challans in past 24 days; department to recover Rs 317 crore from violators
The traffic department started the recovery call centre on December 7. It is run by a 24-member team
The traffic police have managed to recover over Rs 1 crore fine from motorists who had been sent e-challans for road safety violations. The department recently set up a call centre particular for the recovery and its operations kicked off on December 7.
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In the past 24 days, officials said, 2,593 errant drivers have paid Rs 1,12,22,250. While this may be too small considering that the department has to collect Rs 317 crore against 29 lakh e-challans, officials called it a good beginning.
Mumbai traffic police had introduced e-challans about four years ago to ensure transparency and avoid disputes and allegations of brie. It handed cameras and handheld devices to its personnel to penalise violators, who are served with e-challans on their mobile phones. However, the response has not been encouraging as many do not pay the fines on their own.
So far, the 24-member call centre staff has got in touch with 4,600 people, said Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Yashsvi Yadav. "The call center is getting good response, people who have more e-challan money left are being called."
mid-day had earlier highlighted the excuses - from job loss to claiming violations were by a previous owner -being given to the call centre team. Also, the department had planned to send its own members to violators' doors for collection, but that plan is currently on hold, mid-day has learnt.
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