Unpaid Traffic Fines? Cops Now Seizing Vehicles From Offenders' Homes
A lot of people often forget to pay their traffic challans, thinking that they will pay them later. As a result of this, they accumulate a number of traffic challans. Now, so far, the police authorities would only confiscate the vehicle if it was caught during a routine check. However, things have changed now, and recently, the traffic police in Chhattisgarh’s capital, Raipur, has started confiscating vehicles from the homes of the owners who have a number of pending challans.
The police authorities in Raipur, instead of relying only on roadside checks, are now tracking offenders digitally and penalizing them at their homes. It has been reported that the police teams are now visiting residences of repeat offenders and seizing vehicles directly if there are pending fines which are unpaid. This is a much more aggressive enforcement strategy which will help the police in improving compliance of traffic rules.
Authorities in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, are heavily dependent on camera-based monitoring systems, and all traffic violations are being captured through CCTV cameras across the city. They are also using the footage and photographic evidence and verifying them before issuing penalties. E-challans are then sent directly to violators digitally.
It has been reported that, on an average, around 5,000 e-challans are issued daily by the traffic police authorities. However, despite receiving e-challans, there are a large number of offenders who do not pay the fines. Due to this non-compliance, the police are now forced to take more serious efforts.
To ensure that traffic fines are collected on time, door-to-door recovery drives are being organised, and also vehicles are being seized for non-payment. The crackdown is particularly targeting habitual offenders with multiple pending challans. In addition to these efforts, the authorities are still actively conducting checks at major intersections. It has been highlighted by the authorities that vehicles with more than two pending challans are being confiscated on the spot.
It has been reported by the Raipur police that they are still facing a number of issues while these recovery drives. They highlighted that many offenders have switched off their phones, and some have changed their contact numbers. Additionally, several addresses in records are incomplete or inaccurate.
During the home visits, offenders who are paying fines are being issued receipts immediately on the spot. And in cases of refusal to pay, their vehicles are getting seized and transported to police stations using cranes. So far, the enforcement has already resulted in the confiscation of at least five bikes in Raipur.
To explain why this stricter enforcement is taking place, the authorities gave an example. They reported that a bike rider had been issued 36 e-challans. Now, the bike’s value is approximately Rs 95,000. However, the total fines accumulated have reached Rs 1.77 lakh, which is a lot more than the value of the bike.
Authorities have mentioned that they have identified a large pool of habitual violators. These include 44,175 repeated challans recorded which are linked to 737 vehicles. Police data has also revealed that there is a huge backlog of unpaid penalties. It has been reported that over 1.64 lakh e-challans are currently pending.
So, in order to make sure that these unpaid challans are paid, a target list of repeat offenders has been prepared. And based on this list, recovery operations have started. Enforcement teams are now visiting offenders’ homes with cranes. They are then asked to immediately clear dues, and if the owner refuses to pay, the vehicle is getting seized immediately.