Government clears pending e-challan project

New Delhi, India: In order to check traffic violation, the capital is working towards introducing the electronic challan system for penalizing traffic violators. The e-challan project, which was viewed as an unplanned expenditure and was delayed for the very same reason has finally been cleared.

The traffic police department of the capital will get 1,200 handheld devices by the end of the year. The name of the telecom giant that has won this deal worth Rs.14 crore has not been disclosed. Traffic violators can pay fines through credit cards. For instant digitization of violation data, the devices will be connected to a central server.

The device will maintain traffic offence history of both the vehicle and the offender and as per the Motor Vehicles Act, the repeat offenders will be issued greater penalties. As of now, it is not possible to check violators for earlier prosecutions. "As per the contract, the devices are expected to be ready within 90 days but we are planning a partial launch much ahead of this. Depending on the logistics, some of the devices should be in use by December-end or early January," said joint commissioner of police (traffic) Satyendra Garg.

The traffic cops will be able to capture the pictures of the defaulters, fancy number plates, unauthorized red beacons with the help of a pocketbook sized mini computers attached with a camera. This device will be GPRS and GIS enabled and the location and time of the challan issued will be recorded, said the traffic officials.

"Transport department has to share data with us so that we can update the information in one central server. At the moment, we have vehicle ownership and stolen vehicle details available with us, as well as a databank on all traffic challans. We just need details of drivers' licenses," said a senior traffic police officer.

Other devices also feature offline functionality and can store up to 500 challans in its expandable 16 GB memory. It will also upload these challans to the server after it gets connected. If the vehicles get towed, the vehicle owner can contact the helpline number and share his/her vehicle details to get information about his/her vehicle.