Traffic police’s online challan verification system facing hurdles

The Traffic Violation Evidence System (TVES) introduced last year by the Karachi Traffic Police is facing difficulties in regard to fines delivered to addresses of violators, said Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Imran Yaqoob Minhas, chief the city’s traffic police, on Monday.

The TVES is a modern computerised challaning system in Karachi and already operating in many developing countries. Under this system, offenders can check their traffic violation challans and verify if any challan has been issued with evidence. They may also visit DIG Traffic office to check the video available there.

Earlier, Additional IG Amir Shaikh had said that through this system, no challaning officer will stop violators, and the violation fine would be directly delivered to the offender’s residence with evidence.

He added that through this system, we observed several vehicles running with fake number plates and double number plates, and informed the authorities concerned for necessary departmental action against them.

Many such cases are said to have already been sent to the ACLC, the CPLC and excise department.

DIG Minhas said the data available to the Excise and Taxation Department of Sindh was outdated as many vehicles were not registered with correct residential addresses because many of them were plying on the city thoroughfares on transfer or open letters, “which shall be immediately stopped and it would be made mandatory that after 100 per cent registration of the original owner, the person shall ply their vehicle on road”.

He said that the documents should be computerised, which could also help this system to catch violators and deliver their challans at their doorsteps. Presently, he added, they were trying to take help from the CPLC by delivering them the challan details of violators who did not have correct addresses.

After this practice, now whenever the buyer called the CPLC for the verification of the vehicle they were informed that the vehicle was involved in a traffic rule violation, and before purchasing it, the buyer had to pay up the fine the original owner was bound to pay.

The official said that many vehicles after they were sold and bought were not being transferred to their owners’ names.

The TVES cameras can record the maximum number of possible violations in a single video in a very short time and unregistered vehicles are now being registered, causing revenue boost, while the double number plates and fake number plates are being caught and brought to the notice of the ACLC.

The DIG Traffic said that the operation of the TVES had earlier been working on most of the thoroughfares of Karachi, but due to threats to traffic cops, in highly sensitive and threat call areas it had been stopped. He said now the operation was only operated on Sharea Faisal and till date the TVES staff had issued more than 4,000 tickets and realised fines of more than Rs3,000,000.

He added that, but still many of the tickets were unpaid because of incomplete addresses, change of premises, refusals or closed houses, family being out of station, pending with riders, pending with dispatch courier, and cancellations.

The authorities have also introduced a handheld unit which is a device that is provided to challaning officers deployed at different traffic kiosks of the Karachi Traffic. The device has a SIM with GPRS and is interlinked with the Traffic Headquarters.