Hyderabad: The Telangana traffic police has collected a staggering Rs 366.08 crore through challans or penalties levied for various violations across the state, a Right to Information (RTI) query has revealed.
According to the information furnished by the police department based on an application from one Amjad Khan, the Telangana traffic police collected the amount between April 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.
Between April 2020 to March 2021, the police department collected Rs 208 crore in fines, indicating that the state made the most of the COVID-19 lockdown last year.
In fact, it may be recalled that many citizens even complained of excessive fine amounts with regard to traffic violations. Last year after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the police strictly enforced it and even seized vehicles of people who were out of their homes without any valid reason.
According to the RTI information sought from the Telangana traffic police, between April 2021 to September 2021, officials collected Rs 158.33 crore. During the same period, the highest amount in challans was collected from the Cyberabad police’s jurisdiction at Rs 53.26 crore.
Similarly, this year between April and September, the Hyderabad traffic police was second in terms of fines collected at Rs 35 crore. The district with the lowest amount obtained by the traffic police was from Jayashankar Bhupalpally at Rs 30.36 crore.
It is inferable that Cyberabad and Hyderabad have the most traffic violations which result in the traffic police procuring massive sums of money.
Frustrated over challans, man sets bike on fire in front of cops
The increase in the amount also shows how proactive the state traffic police have been vis-a-vis imposing penalties. Recently in Adilabad, a man set his bike on fire claiming that he was frustrated over too many traffic challans. “I already paid a 1000 rupee challan last week. Now they are asking for 2000, 3000. Where do I get the money from?” he questioned.
The data above was furnished under the Right to Information Act 2005.