As per the RTI reply during the period October to December 2016 a total of 2,588 complaints were received by Traffic police however challan was issued against none of them due to no evidence
Even as Mumbai Traffic Police has been urging citizens to use its mobile phone application to register complaints against various traffic violations, details sought under Right To Information (RTI) Act by a Kandivali based activist has shown that in one year action was taken against only a mere 13% of the public complaints while 87% were non-actionable due to 'no-evidence'.
Sandeep Ohri a software developer who has been raising issues related to traffic violations said that it was in October 2016 that the Traffic department launched this app that allowed the general public to play whistle blowers by allowing them to lodge complaints by clicking pictures. "However while lodging complaints, citizens can't store a copy of the photo(showing violation) on their phone and neither do they get a complaint reference number immediately – for subsequent follow ups. All this made me suspect the very logic of this app and implementation on complaints and so I decided to probe further and filed an RTI that only proved my point," he said.
As per the RTI reply during the period October to December 2016 a total of 2,588 complaints were received by Traffic police however challan was issued against none of them due to no evidence. Meanwhile between the period of January to November 2017, a total of 29,450 complaints were received – and the traffic police issued challans to 4,125 of them while the rest 25,325 were non-actionable as having "no evidence".
"In a period of one year citizens upload a total of 32,038 complaints of which traffic police takes action on just 4,125 which is just 13% and no evidence was found against 87% and this feels somewhat strange to me," adds Ohri stating that he can understand that many complaints might have been random or fraudulent but 87% still seems a huge figure.
Another question being raised by not only Ohri but several also other activists is that even if its true that such huge percentage of the complaints were non actionable due to lack of proof what did the traffic police do to create awareness amongst citizens to ensure this system works properly.
"There is no information on what all will be needed to lodge a 'perfect complaint' on which action can be taken. All the app needs at the moment is three pictures and GPS location," Ohri said adding that he was also amused by the fact that RTI revealed that of the 4,125 challans issued, only ONE was for- driving without seat-belt and only five for- talking over the mobile phone as its so common to find these two violations on the streets.
A senior official from Mumbai Traffic Police said that the app is a pilot project and there are some teething problems, which will be resolved in time to come. "Its not that we are ignoring any complaints but at times there are very similar kinds of problems or complaints highlighted that is sent in bulk, which we try to resolve but at times due to various issues it might get ignored. However there are many improvements we are planning in the app and people have to appreciate that action is being initiated despite so much limitations," he said.
Complaints received on Mumbai Traffic Police (MTP) App between Oct 2016 to Nov 2017: 32038
Challan issued: 4125
No Evidence: 27913
Action taken on Citizens Complaints
Total number of action taken on various traffic offence (Jan to Nov2017): 4125
Fancy number plates: 766
No Parking: 2835
Triple seat: 38
Without Helmet: 236
Halting ahead of white line: 244
Talking on mobile Phone:5
Without Helmet: 1
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