App issues prompt non-payment of penalty

Mumbai: Due to inefficiency and unreliability of the Mumbai traffic police MTP app, people are constantly flouting payment deadlines. Hence, introduction of new platforms is in the pipeline, and is expected to garner more response, in comparison to old methods of recovery.

In January this year, a mobile application was launched by Mumbai traffic police allowing traffic violators to pay e-challans however it only ended up confusing Mumbaikars at the time. Later, there was confusion caused by wrong e-challans or e-challans sent with the wrong image. However, traffic violators were stuck with wrongly sent e-challans and could do nothing about them.

Isha Jaglani (25), who rides a scooter from Kandivali to her college in Vile Parle, was sent an e-challan with the image of a motorcycle with a different number. She was charged Rs 200 for jumping a signal, which she never did.

Recalling the situation, Ms Jaglani told this newspaper, “I was unnecessarily made to pay the fine, and was told that the amount will be waived off if I break any traffic rules in future. But my question is why should I pay, and if I am paying in advance, are they asking me to break a traffic rule to get value for money?”