Hyderabad: Not many have noticed that the city traffic police charges Rs 35 (user charges extra) on the e- challan issued online and that is delivered at the address of the violator. For instance if 6000 e-challans are issued in a day, a charge of Rs 21,000 is collected as ‘extra’.
The cops post to the name as per the vehicle’s registration and the violator has to pay the fine to the government. However the cost for paper, software update, paying the software developer, printing and delivery will be around Rs 35 given that they buy it in bulk.
K. Hari Lingaiah, a private employee, narrated his experience, “I was issued an e-challan message stating that I violated the traffic rules of not wearing a helmet. However, ironically, I was wrongly issued the challan as I was at home at the time the violation had supposedly occurred. I have not travelled to Tolichowki (Nanal Nagar junction) as per the e-challan issued by the cops and on top of that, an extra Rs 35 was charged.”
A. Sharath Kumar, another commuter said, “I sold my bike on the RTA site, the owner’s name was changed to the current user. However in the e-challan site it shows my name. Also, I continue to get the e- challan at my address and the extra fee is added. The department has not updated the name and address of the new vehicle owner on their website while issuing the e-challan.”
When this correspondent enquired about the charge imposed per challan, Traffic Inspector M. Narsingh Rao explained, “The user charges were imposed according to the Government Order 307, 2012. These user charges include the fee for the software update, buying cameras, paying the software developers, paper, printing and delivery cost.”
Without stopping the vehicle involved in a traffic violation, the traffic police simply note down its registration number and feed it at the end of the day into a computer to generate an e-challan with the help of the database of the Transport Department. Those who receive the e-challan will have to pay it at the nearby eSeva centre within two weeks. However many of them fail to clear the dues citing different reasons, added Inspector Rao.
