Times of India: Navi Mumbai: Saturday, March 07, 2015.
City traffic
department has earned Rs 4.13 crore by imposing fines on motorists for violating
rules last year. This figure was revealed in a response to an RTI query filed
by a Kharghar-based activist Santosh Shukla, who wanted to know the penalty
amount earned by the traffic department in a year.
Shukla filed
the query on December 19 and also wanted to know about action being taken for
creating awareness about traffic norms."Traffic penalty is usually
nominal, so it is surprising that the department managed to collect such a
substantial sum in one year. This raises the question whether the traffic
department is a revenue-generating body or a law-enforcing agency?" asked
Shukla.
DCP (Traffic)
Arvind Salve said regulating traffic and penalizing motorists are both part of
traffic officials' duty. "The officials are not intentionally imposing
fines on errant motorists, as they do not have to achieve any targets through
penalty collection."
Shukla feels
that the penalty amount indicates that the department is encouraging such
practices to earn more. He also alleged that the traffic officials are using
covert means to levy penalty. "Traffic police's role is to prevent traffic
violation and regulate movement, which can be done by making their presence
felt on the roads. But they station themselves in nooks and corners to levy
penalties, which is unbecoming of the department," he added.
Salve added
that if offences are committed, it is the responsibility of the traffic
official to impose penalty so that motorist do not break the rule again.
"Wherever there is a jam, cops stand on the roads to regulate the flow.
Else, they remain on the sides to monitor the traffic," added Salve.
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