A diamond trader from Malabar Hill settled e-challans worth Rs 1.04 lakh this week, the highest accumulated penalties paid by a motorist since the new system for ticketing traffic offenders was introduced two years ago.
Rahil Mehta¡¯s two cars, a silver BMW and a silver Honda Accord, clocked up a total of 103 speeding violations on the same route, Bandra-Worli Sea Link, between January and August this year. The speed limit on the sea bridge, which Mehta uses to reach his office in Bandra Kurla Complex, is 80 kmph. The two cars were captured on cameras hitting or crossing the 100-kmph mark on several occasions ¡ª the Accord 84 times, and the BMW 19.
This case should serve as a warning to motorists: beware of traffic cameras and follow the rules, and don¡¯t let fines accumulate.
The recovery of over Rs 1 lakh in one go is a rare moment of joy for the Mumbai traffic police, who are owed nearly Rs 120 crore by scofflaws with thousands of unpaid traffic tickets. In a large number of cases, those caught on camera for various traffic infractions ¡ª speeding, jumping the red light, bad parking decisions, white-line breaches at signals ¡ª have no clue that e-challans have been issued against them. The long list of unpaid penalties features some of the city¡¯s high-profile residents such as Bollywood stars and politicians, Mirror had reported in a series of articles in August.
According to the data obtained by Mirror through a right-to-information request, since October 2016, when the e-challan process was rolled out, traffic cops have issued over 53 lakh electronic tickets amounting to Rs 172 crore in fines. Of these, fines worth only Rs 53 crore have been cleared by the offenders.
Cops had been alerting offenders through a text message, but incomplete records of vehicle owners and poor coordination with RTOs have resulted in unpaid e-challans piling up. After Mirror¡¯s reports, state transport minister Diwakar Raote asked officials to start notifying motorists about their violations and penalty by post, and update the records of all vehicle owners. Several notices have now been sent out, especially for fines exceeding Rs 25,000, with the recipients being instructed to pay the fine within seven days or be prepared for their rides to be impounded.
The diamond trader came on the radar after his Honda Accord was spotted in a no-parking zone at Crawford Market on September 23. Constable Sunil Patil, who is attached to the Kalbadevi traffic division, ran the car¡¯s registration number on his handheld e-challan device and was stunned to find unpaid fines of Rs 85,000. He located Mehta¡¯s driver and enquired if Mehta owned more cars. The Accord was towed away and Mehta was ordered, through a notice, to clear all his fines.
Mumbaimirror
A traffic police officer said though Mehta had a chauffeur, he was often seen driving one of the cars on camera. ¡°The Honda Accord was seen speeding 84 times, while the BMW 19 times. Both on the Sea Link. The accumulated fines for the two cars were Rs 85,000 and Rs 19,000, respectively. Mehta had no idea his vehicles had racked up so many pending e-challans; he said he never received any text message,¡± the officer said. ¡°He offered to visit our HQ in Worli and pay the penalty. On September 25, the photos of speed violations were shown to him and he paid Rs 1.04 lakh.¡±
Mirror contacted Mehta¡¯s office, but it refused to comment.
Senior inspector Firoz Bagwan of the Kalbadevi traffic division said the fine was collected only after the issuance of a notice. ¡°All the e-challans in this case were for speeding,¡± he said.
Another officer said this was probably the first time that such a huge fine had been recovered after the e-challan process was introduced in October 2016. ¡°There could be more motorists with even higher unpaid fines. We are trying to compile a list of such people and issue notices,¡± the officer said.
RTO records of vehicles and their owners are not always accurate, especially in cases where vehicles have changed hands. Traffic cops have been urging vehicle owners to install ¡®MTPapp¡¯ and log their details to find out if they have been ticketed. The registration will also activate future SMS alerts.