In a bid to make enforcement faster, increase transparency and reduce workload of field officers, the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) has rolled out e-challans through point-of-sale (POS) machines for traffic offenders to pay fines.

Henceforth, the offenders being booked by the enforcement personnel on the roads will be asked to make cash payment or swipe their debit/credit cards on the spot for payment of fines.

Those failing to use the options will be given a window to pay the penalty online after surrendering a document.

Field officers only have to fill the vehicle registration number or the licence details of the driver to get all the details of the vehicle and the driver in the POS machine within seconds.

Besides generating challan and payment station facility, the hand-held machines, with GPRS technology, have camera to take photographs of vehicles and violators, and facility to scan QR Code and prepare check reports online. Vehicle owners will also get SMS alert on registering cases involving their motor vehicles and for this mobile numbers will have to be linked.

The device, integrated with the national network, can retrieve data relating to previous offences of the driver and those involving the vehicle.

The Transport Mission Mode project’s flagship pan-India applications ‘Sarathi’, for driving licence, and ‘Vahan’, for vehicle registration, are being used.

The software has been developed by the National Informatics Centre in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Road, Transport, and Highways. The software has been billed as a solution to the problems faced in traffic enforcement.

State Transport Commissioner M.R. Ajith Kumar foresees sweeping changes in the transport sector with the roll-out of the POS-based facility.

Around 100 POS machines have been made available to the MVD enforcement squads free of cost by Federal Bank. The MVD needs 200 machines for Regional Transport Offices (RTOs), Sub-RTOs, and check-posts. Ultimately, all enforcement officials will be carrying a POS with them while on duty.

The POS-based e-challan rolled out for the first time in the Ernakulam Regional Transport Office on Friday. It would be launched in Thiruvananthapuram and later in the entire State, Joint Transport Commissioner Rajeev Puthalath said.

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Printable version | Apr 29, 2022 11:45:45 am | https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/traffic-offenders-can-pay-fines-through-pos-machines/article31815706.ece