Pune Mirror: Pune: Friday, April
14, 2017.
RTI plea
reveals zero data; DCP says cops are still in talks with departments for
one-point contact for sending e-challan over texts.
Garbage
pick-up vans, anti-encroachment vehicles belonging to the Pune Municipal
Corporation (PMC), as also other government departments, can zoom past a red
signal or drive recklessly which is otherwise quite common as the police are
yet to find an appropriate method to penalise them. On the other hand, when it
comes to violators using private vehicles, a hefty fine is slapped by the men
in khaki.
The special
drives initiated by the police last week to instill traffic discipline among
citizens using a network of CCTV cameras and sending e-challans in the form of
instant messages describing rule violation seem to be skewed. According to the
traffic police, there is no single point of contact in various government
departments to whom the law-keepers can send messages when government vehicles
break traffic rules. This simple communication mismatch has become a roadblock
for the police, preventing them from taking any action against government
vehicles.
Azar Khan, an
activist, recently filed an application under the Right to Information Act
(RTI) with the traffic police to find out how many government vehicles,
especially those belonging to the PMC, have been prosecuted. But he did not get
any figure in the reply.
Speaking to
Pune Mirror, Khan said, “We have seen several government vehicles violating
traffic rules. In the city, we get to see lots of PMC-owned vehicles, such as
vehicles of antiencroachment department, garbage collection and even water
tankers breaking rules but we have hardly seen traffic police prosecuting
these. In most of the chowks of the city, we see that only private vehicles are
being stopped by the traffic police and fine is being collected from them.”
“After the
traffic police introduced this new system of e-challan, where they send texts
to vehicle owners for flouting traffic rules, I filed an RTI with the traffic
police, seeking information about how many PMC-owned vehicles have been
prosecuted by them. However, I have a reply from them stating they have been
taking action against government vehicles but they do not have specific data of
how many of the vehicles belong to the government,” Khan said.
According to
traffic police, around 1,500 vehicle users have already been prosecuted through
the e-challan system since its launch about a week ago. However, all these
vehicles which have been prosecuted are private vehicles.
Khan claimed
that the traffic police have computerised records and they can easily figure
out from the vehicle registration number which are government vehicles. “The
government- owned vehicles have specific Regional Transport Authority (RTO)
registration series and they can be easily identified by the police. However, I
feel that since the traffic police are not taking any action against the
governmentowned vehicles, obviously they do not have any such data available
with them,” Khan said.
When Pune
Mirror contacted deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Pravin Mundhe, he also
admitted that the traffic police are still working out a plan to prosecute
government vehicles. Mundhe said, “Unlike private vehicles, the government
vehicles are not registered against any individual. Therefore, finding a
driver’s mobile phone number through the vehicle registration number is not
possible. Since we do not have any specific mobile number, we cannot really
send an SMS about traffic rules violation to the person concerned of that
department.”
“We are
trying to reach out to various government departments in the city requesting
them to appoint one-point of contact so that if the vehicle of that particular
department violates traffic rule, we can send an SMS to that one person who has
been appointed by that department. The process is still on and a final solution
is yet to be found,” Mundhe added.
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