Offline trials of e-challan system to begin at Tardeo RTO from next week

The transport department has already planned to buy 1,300 handheld e-challan machines worth Rs10 crore for RTO offices across the state.

The transport department will start offline trials of web-based e-challan software developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) at Tardeo regional transport office (RTO) from next week.

Until now challan details were maintained in physical books. (HT File (Representational Image))

The system will help enforcement authorities take action against repeated offenders. E-challan is a sophisticated software application comprising Android-based mobile app and web interface. This app-cum-web application is integrated with Vahan and Sarathi applications which are used to register vehicle and licence data respectively. The app can be used by RTO inspectors while citizens and other authorities can use the web version.

The transport department has already planned to buy 1,300 handheld e-challan machines worth Rs10 crore for RTO offices across the state, which will allow people to pay fine using debit and credit cards besides other modes.

An official from Tardeo RTO said during these trials, they are going to feed the details of all the challans issued by RTO inspectors into the web-based e-challan system from next week. Until now it was maintained in physical books.

“Our RTO is starting offline trials since it will help them overcome deficiencies in the system, till it can be fully executed,” said the official, adding that after the software trials, the app-based version, which is mainly for RTO inspectors, is likely to be launched.

The system will allow citizens to check offence details and pay fine online anytime and anywhere. Even the court disposal will reflect directly on the citizen and department page, saving time and effort.

The RTO official said if any RTO inspector or traffic cop issues e-challan, the details of it can be accessed by authorities across the nation. It will even allow the authorities to block vehicle or licence in case of pending challan.

“Currently, other RTOs do not come to know if there is any offence against the vehicle or driver they check on roads. As the system is integrated with Vahan and Sarathi, other RTOs or traffic cops will come to know of the history of offences against them,” said the RTO officer.

Mumbai has around 33 lakh vehicles and the number of vehicles across the state is around 3.14 crore. The state has begun digitisation of vehicle and driver records using Vahan and Sarathi systems since 2007. More than 70-80 % vehicle and licence data has been digitised since then.