Mumbai, February 20: In just two days, Mumbai Traffic Police penalized over 11,461 two-wheelers for several offences including rash driving, speeding, signal jumping, driving without helmets, drunk driving, etc.
As per the official data by MTP, the drive was for two days on Feb 18 and 19, which was followed by the Road Safety Month, which ended on Feb 14. "We wanted to continue to raise awareness about road safety and traffic discipline as that’s the way to ensure the safety of the motorists and pedestrians,” said a senior official.
Over Rs 65 Lakh Fine Pending:
During these two days, out of the 11,461 challans, only 1,855 were paid by the motorists – which was a total of Rs. 10,84,400, and the rest – 9,606 were put in the category of unpaid challans. Over Rs. 65,20,400 are pending to be paid by the two-wheeler motorists.
As per the data breakdown, on Feb 18 alone, 4531 motorists were penalized, while on the next day, it doubled up to 6930. “The numbers are very low – of the motorists paying their dues. Only 677 paid their dues on day 1, as most of them were made to make the payment immediately.
While on day 2, of the 6930 two-wheelers, only 1178 made the payment. In total 9606 – 3854 on day 1 and 5752 on day 2 – are pending to pay their fine amount,” an official informed, adding that most of the two-wheelers were caught driving without helmets.
It is known that more frequent drives for all motorists will be conducted by the traffic department while subsequently, the ones who have dues pending, will be reminded to pay the amount, said officials. In November, traffic authorities said that from 2019 to 2023, there remains at least Rs 685 crores of pending amount and the non-stop efforts to recover these dues.
One of the efficient ways is the Lok Adalat which was conducted in December last year, during which at least 17.10 lakh motorists were sent notices, urging them to pay their dues during Lok Adalat.
