Three months after the e-challan system was introduced to collect fines for traffic violations in the city, the Mumbai Police's Twitter handle has received a flood of complaints about errors in the system, along with queries about how it works.
Several complaints pertaining to e-challans being sent to persons who do not own the vehicles hauled up for violating traffic rules. This, police officers say, could be because the ownership of the vehicle may have passed hands without the current owner's mobile number being updated, or mobile phone companies may have assigned a registered mobile number to a new customer who is not connected to the linked vehicle.
Another concern raised by motorists is that in cases in which a vehicle owner's mobile number is not registered or updated with the police, the owner does not get to know about e-challans being issued against the vehicle's registration number. The owner may be unaware about e-challans issued against his or her vehicle, unless they proactively check for violations listed against their vehicle on the Mumbai Traffic Police website.
To compound problems for these vehicle owners, traffic police officers said they have sent a proposal to the state government, requesting officials to enforce the system, wherein if the offender does not pay the fine within 15 days, he or she will be charged Rs 10 per day as late penalty.
Vehicle owners are therefore urged to update their mobile phone numbers on the website. They can also use the Mumbai Traffic Police mobile application to register and check for violations.
In one tweet, a woman claimed that an e-challan had been issued to her for a car that does not belong to her, When contacted by DNA, Sonal Karkera said, "I received an e-challan on my mobile phone for a vehicle that was not even my own or used by me. I mailed the police, and was simply told that they would get back to me."
While officers claims that e-challans are issued on the basis of photographic evidence from CCTV cameras, which can be viewed through links on the traffic police's website, in many instances, people have voiced grievances regarding the evidence cited for the violations.
In one instance, Sonu Singh, who received an e-challan for halting ahead of the zebra crossing, has pointed out that the crossing was almost invisible on the road. "I was not even aware that I was issued an e-challan. Firstly, the zebra crossing had faded away, it was barely visible. The photograph clearly shows that my car halted behind the line anyway, but they are not resolving my complaint," Singh said.
However, officers claims that 'minor errors' have taken place as the e-challan system is in the nascent stage and there are several limitations to the database involved. One of the reasons cited is that motorists have changed their mobile numbers, but have not updated their mobile number on the website.
"We are rectifying these errors. All motorists should register themselves and update their current numbers by downloading the MTP app or by visiting the Mumbai traffic police website to ensure erroneous e-challans are not issued," said Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic).
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