Mumbai cops start home visits to collect pending fines

If you have a pending echallan fine donrsquot be surprised to see a traffic cop at your door On Tuesday the traffic police started the next leg of their drive where they visit violators to recover dues midday has been following the traffic policersquos series of actions to recover fines which run into hundreds of crores Three days into the drive constables have so far encountered cooperative citizens who are agreeing to payThe traffic police have formed 25 teams comprising two constables to collect the fines It currently has over Rs 400 crore in pending finesThe traffic police have made a list of more than 25000 people having the highest number of violations and more than Rs 10000 in pending fines eachHow it will workThe 50 constables meant to visit violatorsrsquo residences have been given special training on how to approach and talk to violators While one constable will do the talking the other will have a body camera to record the proceedings Constables have been told to speak and ask for the fines respectfully address the violator as sir or madam If any citizen complains that the constable did not speak properly the body camera footage will be checkedA South Mumbai resident gets the receipt from a traffic police constable after paying his pending finesOver the past several months many meetings were held regarding violators who refuse to pay echallan fines and continue to break rules The latest action comes as part of an ongoing drive where cops have also been calling violators regarding the dues from the traffic policersquos headquarters The drive started materialising in November last year when the traffic police were mulling hiring recovery agents to collect pending fines Experts however were against the idea and had suggested strengthening the force and collection of fines instead In January the police also approached the RTO to cancel the licence of those refusing to pay finesA traffic police officer told midday ldquoAfter training the 50 constables attended a briefing by Joint Commissioner of Police traffic Yashasvi Yadav Then the orders in the matter were issuedrdquoldquoThe order has been issued after holding discussions on the home visits with Mumbairsquos commissioner of policerdquo the officer saidYadav said ldquoPeople who violate traffic rules are fined but they do not pay up and continue to break rules We appeal to the people to follow traffic rules If traffic police come to your house to collect fines then cooperate with themrdquoOn Wednesday Constable Praful Patil visited the residences of six people in South Mumbai It was his first day on the task When a violator claimed he had no information about the echallans Patil produced the receipt with the violatorrsquos car number and echallan information and the violator agreed to pay Patil said ldquoIt was my first day and the six people I visited responded well to me Another violator said that he was aware of the fines but his car was being driven by his relative when the violations happened He said he was going to pay the money after Covid19 restrictions are lifted He agreed to pay up since I turned uprdquo Patil saidAnother constable Amit Jadhav visited Ajit Singhrsquos residence in South Mumbai Singh said that he did not receive any alerts even as Jadhav had their details and the requisite fines in the receipt When Jadhav questioned him further it turned out that Singh had changed his mobile number and hadnrsquot synced it with his registration detailsAt Saat Rasta in central Mumbai a constable identified as More met a violator who refused to believe that he had ever broken any traffic rules despite being shown the echallan details Then More requested the person to down the MTP Mumbai Traffic Police app ldquoThe MTP app showed details of all his violations while driving his car There was a photo on the app for every violation He finally believed me and agreed to pay the finerdquo More saidlsquoPaid fine but issue remainsrsquoVikram Mehta a Walkeshwar resident who was visited by traffic police on Wednesday said the echallan was correct and that he paid the fine Mehta however added that he was not at fault as his building has no parking space ldquoThe building does not have a parking space so I have to park on the road I have been issued many echallans because of this I am going to sell off my car now With no parking space available the echallans will keep piling uprdquo Mehta saidAnother violator Atul Goradia a businessman residing in Prarthana Samaj Girgaon said ldquoThe traffic police spoke respectfully to me I have been using my car for eight years But there is no parking space in my building I have been fined for parking in a noparking zone Today I paid the money but the problem remains There is no parking facility near my residencerdquoAnother car owner Hussain Gohar told police that he will pay the outstanding amount in 10 days He was given a notice for the same Gohar said ldquoMy car runs for a company whose drivers drive it I am expecting a payment in two to three days and will pay the pending fine when the money comesrdquo