KOLKATA: Motorists challaned by sergeants in central Kolkata can henceforth pay the fine on the spot with cash or debit/credit cards. Sergeants of four traffic guards - Howrah Bridge, Headquarter, South and Jorabagan - have been given e-challan machines where cards can be swiped to make the payments.
The four traffic guards encompass the Howrah Bridge, Strand Road, Posta, Burrabazar, MG Road, Central Avenue, Shyampukur, Dalhousie, Esplanade, Babughat, Maidan and Exide areas.
The machines, handed to the sergeants on Monday, were developed with technical help from State Bank of India (SBI).
"It will make challans paperless and allow payment of traffic fines online. Once the court gets designated, the court arbitrations will be online. That will also usher in the scope of seizing documents online," said an officer at Lalbazar. Since July 2021, the police had been conducting trial runs at five traffic guards in the city and had made several recommendations to the central software developing agency in this regard. Several suggestions have been incorporated in tweaking the machine.
The sergeants are still worried about network issues. "When we were issuing challans using phones, the system was working faster. Now there are times when the machine hangs. On the road, this is a bother. We have informed Lalbazar about the issue. We hope this is a temporary issue and will be resolved soon," said a sergeant on duty in central Kolkata.
Kolkata Police's e-initiatives have gained momentum after a letter from Calcutta High Court on April 11 asked Kolkata Traffic Police about its readiness in implementing virtual court for Headquarter, South, Jorabagan and Howrah Bridge traffic guards, for which the 4th Metropolitan Magistrate Court has been designated as the virtual court.
The Bankshal court had also sent letters to the four OCs, asking about their readiness for shifting to the virtual court mode. Joint CP (Traffic) Santosh Pandey is acting as the nodal officer in this project.
When the e-courts across the city become fully functional, documents like driving licence, registration certificate, pollution certificate, insurance and other tax related documents can be locked digitally during prosecution for violating traffic rules.
Cops say that when a centralized challan number is generated that is valid in not just the city but across the state, it will also force motorists to become disciplined. Since fines can be levied anywhere, motorists will also have an opportunity to pay anywhere. Moreover, motorists will get the exact GPS-based location where the traffic violation occurred.
