Even as the Ludhiana police have introduced e-challaning and issued over 700 challans in the past one week, non-uniform vehicle number plates and incorrect addresses registered with the vehicles are posing a major challenge to the cops.
The police have also written to the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) to omit any such errors in the software for smooth functioning of the system.
E-challaning was introduced on November 15 with automatic closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at six road intersections to detect red-light jumps and zebra crossing violations. So far, over 700 e-challans have been dispatched to the residences of the violators. However, the police have received back several challans as these could not be delivered at the addresses of the owners of the vehicles caught violating traffic rules.
Assistant commissioner of police (ACP-traffic) Gurdev Singh said that around nine to 10 challans sent through speedpost have been returned to the department due to improper addresses as the postal department was not able to deliver the challans at the address of the violators.
“For instance, if a person residing in house number A, street number 2, Haibowal is caught by the camera violating the rule, then the system which reads the address registered with the vehicle number, only highlights ‘Haibowal’ in the address column. There is no detail about the house number or street number as the software is not updated regarding the same,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“For instance, if a person residing in house number A, street number 2, Haibowal is caught by the camera violating the rule, then the system which reads the address registered with the vehicle number, only highlights ‘Haibowal’ in the address column. There is no detail about the house number or street number as the software is not updated regarding the same,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The ACP added that he is sending the details of such challans to the office of secretary, RTA, for updating the proper address of the vehicle owners.
“I am also writing to the department concerned to mention all details of the vehicle owner on the software while registering the vehicle,” he said.Another officer from the department, requesting anonymity, said the designer number plates are also causing a hurdle in smooth implementation of the project as the camera is not able to read number properly. Sometimes the number printed on the vehicle is ‘3’ and camera reads it as ‘8’.
“Though the personnel working in the e-challaning department verify such details before dispatching the challan, there is need of uniform number plate system in the city,” he said.
The state’s first e-challaning system was inaugurated by police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal at the traffic police complex on November 15. In the first phase, hi-tech cameras with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), red-light violation detectors (RLVD) and night vision features detect ‘red light jump’ and ‘zebra crossing’ violations at six locations —Old Session Chowk, Hero Bakery Chowk on Pakhowal Road, Mini-secretariat crossing, Durga Mata Mandir Chowk near Jagraon Bridge, Dholewal Chowk and Chhatri Chowk (the intersection point near HDFC Bank on Mall Road). The challan is sent at the registered address of the owner by post.
The violator is given a period of one month from the date of issuing of challan for making a payment of ₹350 ( ₹300 fine and ₹50 postal charges).