85% challans for violations on Mum-Pune E-way pending for over a year

Until now, we have settled 530 thousand e-challans and have recovered ₹90 crore from offenders who have breached traffic rules on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. We are sending reminders and pursuing it with the remaining offenders, officials said

Mumbai: The Regional Transport Office (RTO) has issued e-challans to 3.6 million motorists for violations on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway since July 2024, of which only 15% have been cleared so far, with dues pending up to ₹600 crore, officials said.

85% challans for violations on Mum-Pune E-way pending for over a year

“Until now, we have settled 530 thousand e-challans and have recovered ₹90 crore from offenders who have breached traffic rules on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. We are sending reminders and pursuing it with the remaining offenders,” said an official from the transport department.

The violations were detected through the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) installed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) around 18 months ago. The ITMS system captures speeding, dangerous overtaking, lane cutting and other offences, automatically generating challans. Penalties for overspeeding are issued directly, while other violations are verified before processing, officials said.

“The government should enforce stricter rules, like cancellation of the driving license if fines are not paid. Moreover, the penalty should increase incrementally as and when motorists are caught,” said AV Shenoy, member of the Mumbai Mobility Forum.

According to the RTO, ITMS was implemented at a cost of ₹100 crore, of which ₹45 crore was funded by the Transport Department’s Road Safety Fund. As part of the system, MSRDC has installed 40 gantries equipped with CCTV cameras along the expressway. The cameras feature speed detection, automatic number plate recognition, weigh-in-motion sensors, weather monitoring, dynamic messaging systems and a Command and Control Centre to oversee enforcement.