By Neeraj KumarÂ
Patna: Vehicle owners in Patna are set to receive major relief from repeated traffic fines, as a newly updated system will ensure that no vehicle is issued more than one challan in a single day for traffic violations.
The District Transport Office (DTO) and the traffic police have jointly upgraded challan machines and digital systems to curb complaints of motorists being fined multiple times a day for the same offence.
Earlier, it was common for a driver not wearing a helmet or seat belt to be fined four or five times in a single day—once at Dak Bungalow Chowk and again at Boring Road, for instance. With the latest high-tech update, traffic police challan machines have now been synchronised to prevent such repetition.
Under the new arrangement, as soon as a police officer enters a vehicle’s registration number into the machine, the system will instantly alert whether a challan has already been issued to that vehicle on the same day. This update applies not only to handheld devices but also to challans generated through mobile apps by clicking photographs.
While the system has been upgraded, the administration has clarified that in the rare event of a technical glitch resulting in a duplicate challan, motorists need not panic. Affected drivers can approach the traffic police headquarters or the District Transport Office directly. By producing the earlier challan receipt, the wrongly issued second fine can be cancelled.
This measure has come as a boon for commuters who travel daily across different parts of the city for work on two-wheelers or cars.
The facility has also been extended to photo-based digital challans. If a vehicle’s photograph is taken to initiate a challan, the system will immediately verify whether a fine was issued to the same vehicle a few hours earlier, thereby preventing digital errors.
According to the District Transport Office, an average of 50 to 60 challans are issued daily in Patna’s urban area. Of these, around 10 to 12 cases earlier involved the same individual being fined multiple times in a single day. With the new system in place, officials expect a significant reduction in such complaints.
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