Auto, taxi unions write to govt against issuance of e-challans using phones

Mumbai: Miffed that Mumbai traffic police personnel click pictures from their cell phones to issue e-challans, auto-rickshaw and taxi unions on Wednesday wrote a letter to the state government requesting that traffic police put an end to this practice and also waive 75% accumulated fines

Mumbai: Miffed that Mumbai traffic police personnel click pictures from their cell phones to issue e-challans, auto-rickshaw and taxi unions on Wednesday wrote a letter to the state government requesting that traffic police put an end to this practice and also waive 75% accumulated fines.

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There are at least 1.30 lakh auto and taxi drivers in Mumbai with e-challans amounting to more than ₹5,000, which have yet to be paid.

“There are well over a lakh auto rickshaw and taxi drivers who have to pay fines of anywhere between ₹5,000 to ₹20,000. The traffic cops click photos and issue e-challans without even hearing the driver out. There have been instances where drivers who had gone to attend nature’s call or had momentarily halted have also been fined e-challans,” said Shashank Rao, president, Mumbai Autorickshaw Taximen’s Union.

The union has written a letter to deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis about their plight. “We request you to kindly waive off 75% e-challan fines so that taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers will be in a position to pay these fines. The traffic police should go back to the previous methods of collecting fines,” read the letter.

There are 2.60 lakh auto rickshaws and 18,000 kaali-peeli taxis in Mumbai. The unions said steep traffic fines are burning the pockets of these drivers. Recently, the traffic police issued a notification warning its personnel to use cameras on the e-challan machines, and not their personal mobile phones, to click photographs of vehicles belonging to errant drivers before issuing challans following complaints from motorists.