Hyderabad: The traffic police may be reeling under an acute manpower crunch, but that has not stopped it from setting an all-time record in fine collection — Rs 20 crore in 2006.

While nearly 21 lakh motorists were booked in 2006, the figure was about 10 lakh in 2005 and the fine collected about half the amount in 2006 — Rs 11 crore. For the men in khaki and whites, it was a windfall both in terms of traffic violations and fines in the city in 2006, with their revenue jumping over 100 per cent. All this money goes to the government coffers.

The traffic police achieved this feat with at least 35 per cent vacancies in the crucial sub-inspector (SI) category. It’s the SIs who hand out the challans.

Traffic police officials attribute their success to a ‘hotlist’ of violations that affect traffic flow. Drunken driving, jumping signals, violations by RTC drivers and using cellphone while driving were top on the hotlist. The number of cases booked against APSRTC drivers jumped six times in 2006, for cellphone driving it was eight-fold and for drunken driving it shot up by four times compared to previous years. Driving with seatbelts on was only introduced last year which also helped in pooling the Rs 20 crore.

The state government also did its bit by increasing fine amounts in March last year. It issued GO 54 increasing the fine for helmetless driving from Rs 50 to Rs 100; for using cellphones while driving from Rs 200 to Rs 500; and for no seatbelts from Rs 50 to Rs 100. The High Court had in fact suggested to the enforcement agencies during a review that the fine for driving while using a cellphone could be Rs 1,000. During the year, the traffic police also conducted special drives to check drunken driving. The fine: Rs 1,000 instead of Rs 500 collected earlier.

However, traffic officials brushed aside that they had any set targets. “There were no targets. Only when enforcement by issuing fines increases does discipline come about. It was only about enforcement and road discipline and not about money,” additional commissioner of police (traffic) A K Khan told TOI. Traffic officials themselves contend that the record amount did not indicate that the number of indisciplined motorists in Hyderabad had gone up. Instead, they attributed it to the record number of challans.

Source: TOI(Hyderabad-epaper)

Entry Filed under: Hyderabad Traffic News