Hyderabad: Seized vehicles caught up in paperwork

Hyderabad: Traffic police have been charge-sheeting and seizing vehicles of people who are caught with pending e-challans, driving without licenses, drunken driving and other traffic violations, at a rapid pace. However, the consequent slow processing of court-related work is taking a toll on the vehicle owners.

Vehicles seized by the traffic police are being kept for days on end at the traffic police stations as the process of filing the charge-sheet takes up to a week or 10 days. As a result, the vehicle owners are forced to opt for cabs, auto rickshaws or borrow vehicles to continue with their daily routines. 

Shakeel Ahmed, of Kishanbagh says, "The traffic police had seized my brother's two-wheeler because of the many e-challans pending and asked us to pay the challan in court. But the court constable said that we have to wait for up to 10 days to get the vehicle back as there is a huge number of cases pending at the police station level."

Many such complaints have been pouring in from people across the city. The traffic constables themselves are unsure of the exact day on which the violators will be able to visit the courts and keep sending them away saying that they call and inform them when the time came.

"While the police are hauling the violators of traffic rules to courts, those violating more serious sections of the IPC and other local laws are being granted bail at the station or are being counseled and released at the police station itself. Things need to be better streamlined," points out Mohd Abdul Rasheed, a city-based advocate.

Amjadullah Khan, MBT leader, said that the traffic police should concentrate more on streamlining the traffic instead of focussing on challans. "The police are only making big claims. Despite drunk driving checking every week we come across cases of deaths as a result of drunk driving. Priority should be maintaining safety on the roads and not collection of unpaid challans," he pointed out.