ISLAMABAD: The capital’s safe city e-challan system has issued 64,162 tickets to motorists over various traffic rules violations since its inception almost two years ago, a police public relations officer said.

A comparison between the latest data released by the authorities and the details issued on Jan 15 revealed that at least 15,000 e-tickets were issued over the past two weeks -- about 1,000 tickets a day. In a statement issued on Jan 16, the authorities said that more than 49,000 tickets to motorists over traffic rules violations had been issued. Now, the number of these tickets has crossed 64,000.

The police officer said that following the directives of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, the police were utilising all available resources and taking strict measures against the traffic rules violators.

“Police have issued 661 e-challan tickets during the last 24 hours and a total of 64,162 e-challan tickets to motorists over various traffic rules violations so far,” he said.

According to a statement, the Safe City CPO said that the e-challan tickets were delivered to the violators at their home addresses. A copy of the challan was attached with the master file of vehicles at the excise office in case of non-payment of the fine within the given time, he added.

Police say vehicles with pending dues cannot be sold or transferred

The owners who were fined could not sell or transfer their vehicles until the clearance of these dues, according to police. The fine amount could be paid through different banks, mobile accounts, and other digital means.

He further said that there was a significant decline observed in the number of road mishaps and traffic violations in the federal capital in the wake of the new challan system. The move was aimed at encouraging the residents to abide by traffic laws – even in the absence of traffic police officers –through the use of modern technology, he maintained.

Service centres

Meanwhile, khidmat markazs (service centres), during the past 24 hours, facilitated at least 761 citizens with different services, including the issuance of character certificates, foreigners registration, registration of tenants and house servants, general police verification, and reports of missing items, a police public relations officer said.

He said that the capital police were taking all possible measures and initiatives to provide maximum facilities to the citizens of Islamabad.

According to the PRO, at least 61 character certificates after complete verification by respective police stations were issued; 237 general police verification were conducted; 238 reports of missing documents and valuables were lodged; verification of nine vehicles was undertaken; 128 foreigners were registered while data of 23 domestic helpers and 65 tenants was entered during the past 24 hours.

“Besides police’s mobile facilitation van service, facilitation centres in different areas, including sectors F-6, G-10/4, and H-11 were active,” he said, adding that police were also facilitating citizens in Banigala, Soan Garden, and Khanna areas of the federal capital.

In a comment on these initiatives, the IGP said, “Well-trained staff has been appointed there who are providing best services to Pakistani nationals and foreigners. Such steps would improve the trust of people in the police.”

In another development, the Eagle Squad of the Islamabad police, during the past 24 hours, checked a total of 1,973 suspicious persons, motorcycles, and vehicles, according to a police public relations officer.

The Eagle Squad checked 100 pedestrians, 998 motorcycles, and 875 vehicles during special and snap checking. As a result, 10 suspicious persons were shifted to different police stations for further investigation, while 340 motorcycles and vehicles were impounded at various police stations across the capital.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2023