VIJAYAWADA: In order to administer traffic violation better, the transport department launched the ‘citizen-driven enforcement on road safety’ initiative on Wednesday. A WhatsApp interface number - 9542800800 was released, through which citizens would be able to report road accidents, crashes and visible traffic violations.
Transport Minister Perni Venkataramaiah formally launched the initiative at the transport commissioner’s office here. Addressing media persons, he said the department came up with the pro-citizen measure through which the public would be able to directly contact the police and transport officials.
Explaining the initiative, the minister said, on the basis of the photograph sent through the interface number, the transport enforcement officials will penalise the violators and issue challan to them. He clarified that the initiative was not meant for generating revenue and the department earned major share of its revenue through registration of vehicles.
“We are hoping that the newly-launched facility will reduce traffic violations and road accidents,” Venkataramaiah said. Transport Commissioner PSR Anjaneyulu said the department will levy fines on its own while the police continued to do their duties. A middle ground will be decided upon after discussions.