Motorist with ₹3.2 lakh fine issued warning
The traffic police tracked down a Sudhama Nagar resident after discovering a fine of ₹3.2 lakh on his two-wheeler
Bengaluru:
The traffic police on Monday tracked down a Sudhama Nagar resident after discovering a staggering fine of ₹3.2 lakh on his two-wheeler. The police issued a warning to the owner, urging him to settle the outstanding fines promptly or face consequences, said an official statement.
Police said that the traffic violator was slapped with 350 fines for driving in the wrong lane, riding without a helmet, and using a mobile phone. These violations have been reported almost daily, prompting the police to intervene.
The traffic police also visited the violator’s residence and served him with notices. When the vehicle owner claimed his inability to pay the exorbitant ₹3.2 lakh fine, citing the vehicle’s market value at ₹30,000, the police offered him an instalment option. However, they warned that failure to comply would result in filing an FIR, the statement said.
This crackdown comes amid Bengaluru traffic police’s intensified efforts to collect pending fines from repeated traffic offenders, particularly targeting vehicle owners with outstanding fines exceeding ₹50,000.
Joint commissioner of police, MN Anucheth, revealed that a total of 2,681 vehicles in the city have accumulated challans exceeding this threshold for traffic violations.
Anucheth said that those failing to clear their challans despite warnings would face chargesheet and court summons under the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act. To enforce compliance, the traffic police have launched a focused drive to extract fines from all such violators.
“At least 2,681 vehicles in Bengaluru have over ₹50,000 pending fines for traffic violations. We have started a drive to collect fines from these violators. If they fail to pay even after this, we will file a chargesheet at the court and the court will issue summons to such offenders. These cases under the Motor Vehicles Act can be charge-sheeted if the fine is not paid,” Anucheth said.
The increase in unpaid tickets has increased as in January, the traffic police issued orders for the personnel to focus on traffic regulation rather than the enforcement drives. The policemen, otherwise busy issuing challans during their surprise documentation checks, are now deployed at several junctions across the city, particularly during peak hours.
According to the traffic police, currently, more than 80% of the traffic violations in the city are booked using cameras.
In the past too, Bengaluru police have found such two-wheelers with numerous pending challans levied against them. Police also seized a two-wheeler recently, which has 99 pending challans against it, and even detained the vehicle owner. An FIR was registered against the owner, followed by the cancellation of his driving license.
In August last year, the city police caught another man who had not paid fines for the 46 violations levied on his motorcycle. The traffic police tracked him down and made him pay the total dues of ₹13,850 on the spot.
