Pune: Even as the police special branch (SB) continues its probe against the traffic branch officials accused of alleged embezzlement and wrongdoing, the traffic department has recovered fines amounting to ₹30 crore using its CCTV camera surveillance system since January this year.

The fine recovered in June this year is ₹2.82 crore as compared to the monthly average of over ₹5 crore.

Joint commissioner (law and order) Sandeep Karnik had directed traffic cops from fine recovery after public criticism. Citizens had complained that traffic cops are pestering them for violations rather than focusing on enforcing traffic discipline and earning public goodwill.

The traffic police have fined 5.71 lakh violators after they were spotted by its CCTV camera surveillance system installed at different locations across the city. However, the data shows that the fine collected in June was half as compared to the monthly average. Even the vehicle-towing vans had been temporarily discontinued after Puneites lodged complaints regarding the high-handedness of police staff on traffic duty and alleged brazen attempts to recover fines from residents.

Rahul Srirame, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), traffic, said, “The CCTV-based fine is imposed to maintain traffic discipline. It is a transparent system where the fine amount is directly sent to the violator via challan and the amount gets credited in the government’s account. There is no human interface and is a unique method of ensuring that traffic discipline is maintained in the city.”

The CCTV cameras at traffic signals capture vehicles flouting rules and match the violator’s vehicle number with data of vehicle registration number and phone number of owners. The person gets a message about traffic violation and fine amount as well as a link to a photo of the violation. One can check details on official link and pay fine online. Citizens earlier used to pay the amount with traffic police personnel with devices to check whether citizens have to pay previous fine or not.

E-challan machines have been taken back from field traffic units following public complaints. In case of non-failure, the traffic cops have taken the e-court route to recover pending fines. Lok Adalats are proving to be effective for fine recovery as most of the vehicle owners do not want to appear before the local court and pay fines. Those who still do not pay stand the risk of a charge sheet being filed against them under the Motor Vehicles Act before the local court.