PUNE: In a case of a goof-up in the Maharashtra traffic e-challan system, a city-based two-wheeler Activa rider was issued a challan for violating speed limit in a four-wheeler.
The incident came to light on Tuesday when Ashlesha Barke was checking for traffic violation fines on her two-wheeler.
Speaking about the incident, Ashlesha told Sakal Times that when she entered her two-wheeler vehicle number ending with ‘9088’ to look for the fine against her two-wheeler, she was surprised to see that she was issued a challan for Rs 700 for violation of speed limit norms.
To her surprise, Ashlesha saw that although the challan bears her two-wheeler vehicle number, the photo shared by the traffic department was of a four-wheeler with the number ending ‘9099’.
“I wonder how can we go wrong while collecting the data for the challan system. I would love to know whether is it a manual error or a technical one,” she said.
Her father Pradeep Barke said, “I do not own a car and I was surprised to see the challan against my vehicle.”
The four-wheeler violating the speed limit norm was penalised in Borghat.
When Sakal Times apprised the Superintendent of State Highway Police, Thane, Digambar Pradhan about the incident, he said, “This can be a one-off incident. Such incidents have been reported in the past and we have refunded the challan amount to the victims in such cases. One can report such errors to the concerned officials and the challan can be cancelled.”
Speaking on the steps taken to prevent such incidents, Pradhan said that the additional director general of police has kept reserved funds to refund money to commuters who have received the wrong challans.
“After capturing vehicle number of offenders through CCTV cameras, we also verify the numbers manually but sometimes an error can occur,” added Pradhan.
The traffic police have introduced CCTV-enabled e-challan system in an attempt to curb the rising number of road accidents. A CCTV camera continuously records footage of the ongoing traffic. If a motorist breaks any traffic rule, the act will be recorded in the footage. The police will try to extract the number from the vehicle’s screenshot captured from the CCTV footage and an offence will be registered in the records.
The traffic police then coordinate with the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to find the details of the vehicle and its owner. As soon as they receive the details, an SMS is sent on the registered phone number of the violator. This SMS contains the time, date and location of the offence. If the phone number is not registered or linked with a vehicle number, then the data of vehicle involved in the offence is maintained at the e-challan portal. A motorist can check for the fine against his vehicle and can clear his pending dues if any.
Cybersecurity expert Harold D’Costa who was concerned by the incident, said that there is a need for people to be aware of such incidents. “There is an error in the system and people should not lose their money. If someone cannot afford the fine, it will be a problem for the person who has been harassed by such a flawed system,” said D’Costa.
PROACTIVE MEASURES
Pradhan said that the additional director general of police has kept reserved funds to refund money to commuters who have received the wrong challans.
