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In a first in India, Navi Mumabi traffic cops issue e-challans on the spot

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For the first time in India, the Navi Mumabi traffic department issued electronic challans on the spot to motorists who violated traffic norms in the city on Thursday.
The state IT department had provided 16 Android devices for the new plan. Armed with these and a printer, traffic officers monitored motorists and issued e-challans.

How does the system work?
The Android devices have 3G internet. As soon as an officer puts a smart licence or smart RC book in the designated slot, the driver's name, address and insurance details, and the vehicle's engine number are displayed on the screen. All these details appear on the printed challans.
"If a driver gives paper licence or RC book, then we enter the vehicle registration number on the device. Within a few seconds, we can get all the details of the owner of that vehicle on our screen. If the driver is not the owner of the vehicle, we type his/her name and other details on it," said Pradeep Giridhar, senior inspector of Kalamboli traffic division.

What about fine?
If an offender does not have cash, s/he can pay the fine later at any traffic office in Mumbai. However, s/he will have come to collect his/her licence where s/he violated the norms.
"On Thursday, we accepted fines in cash and through online payment. Offenders who did not have cash were taken to our nearest office and asked to pay up through Mahaonline. We will soon get swipe machines for accepting credit and debit cards too," said Arvind Salve, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

Repeat offenders, beware!
"If we catch a person for the second time, our device will show it. Thus, we will also get to know the history of the violators," said Dinkar Thakur, assistant commissioner of police.

What had been done earlier?
The Navi Mumbai traffic department had started the e-challan scheme on Palm Beach Road in the first week of August. Under this scheme, motorists are kept under surveillance through CCTV cameras installed on the road and monitored by officers from the police control room in Belapur. If officers spot any vehicle violating traffic norms on the CCTV cameras, they immediately take a screenshot and send it to the owner of the vehicle along with the challan.

Why is this better than the previous scheme?
"Around 80 such challans we had sent over five months came back as they were not sent to the right addresses. However, this problem will not be there in the e-challan system as offenders will have to pay the fine as soon as they are caught," a traffic officer said.

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