KARACHI – The persistent flaws in Karachi’s traffic police e-challan system are causing growing hardship for citizens as motorists continue to receive wrongful traffic fines months after the system’s launch.
The e-challan system was introduced in October last year to improve enforcement of traffic laws through modern surveillance cameras. However, despite the passage of more than three months, technical errors remain unresolved, resulting in the continued issuance of incorrect challans.
Several motorists have reported being fined for not wearing seat belts even though they were compliant. In many such cases, the images attached to the e-challans clearly show drivers wearing seat belts, raising questions about the accuracy of the system.
Another major concern involves the misuse of vehicle number plates. Citizens have complained that unknown individuals are using their registration numbers on other vehicles, with fines being issued to the legitimate owners. In a recent case, a citizen received five e-challans amounting to Rs50,000, despite stating that his vehicle was not present at the locations where the violations were recorded. He further claimed that neither he nor his vehicle appeared in the images provided by traffic police, alleging that someone else was openly using his number plate on city roads.
Traffic police officials maintain that the e-challan system is a significant step towards ensuring compliance with traffic laws and strengthening monitoring mechanisms. They claim the system is being improved gradually with public cooperation.
However, citizens say they continue to bear the consequences of the system’s shortcomings, highlighting concerns over accountability, accuracy of data, and the absence of an effective complaint and redress mechanism.
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