Mumbai: In a rigorous drive to recover the pending fines that are beyond ₹300 crore, the Mumbai Traffic Police has started an initiative of collecting pending fines from traffic violators by going door-to-door, and in a fortnight, they have collected over ₹1 crore. A senior traffic official said that a team of 100 constables have been trained and tasked to visit the violators' house while wearing body cameras, and either issue them notice of pending fines or collect the fines through the e-payment/cash.
A senior traffic official said that of the huge list of violators, whose pending fines are in lakhs of rupees, the police have started collecting pending fines of the top violators and defaulters. A team of 100 constables in the traffic department, two each from every traffic chowky, were imparted training to politely and courteously approach the violators at their registered address, give them a reminder of pending fines.
Yashasvi Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said that a team of two policemen, who are wearing bodycams, which records their interactions, approach the violators. "They have been given an e-challan machine and debit/credit card machine, to collect fines through cash or card, if the violator is willing to pay on the spot. If not, the policemen issue them a legal notice, reminding them of the pending fines, failing which they will have to face legal action. In some cases, the violator promises to pay them in a couple of days or a week, wherein appropriate follow-up will be taken," Yadav said. This initiative has garnered a positive response and more pending e-challan recovery will be expected to be made.
The traffic police also address the violators as Sir or Madam, giving utmost respect, to avoid any conflict, Yadav added. In the last fortnight, the traffic police in the city have collectively recovered over ₹1 crore, and much more has been promised by the violators, a traffic official said. The most pending fines were recovered from the Mankhurd traffic division, wherein they collected an average of ₹1 lakh per day during this drive, followed by the Borivali traffic division.
In addition to the door-to-door pending e-challans recovery, the call centre started for the same purpose by the Mumbai Traffic Police has also yielded a great response, resulting in the recovery of over ₹20 crore. The recovery of pending e-challans has been a tedious job ever since the e-challan facility was introduced, resulting in traffic police using every trick in the book to collect the fines politely.
