NEW DELHI: As the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) begins to operationalise Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) for electronic monitoring of highways, additional penalty provisions have been introduced for the failure of critical components, supplementing existing arrangements, to ensure enhanced safety.
According to the officials, the revised mechanism is sought to address gaps in the monitoring and enforcement of service-level requirements for the System.
The provisions lay down the procedure for the applicability, computation and recovery of penalties, without disturbing the contractual or concessionary provisions already in force, for operation and maintenance (O&M) of ATMS.
Additionally, penalties are also imposed on daily or weekly basis in case of target specific failures such as absence or non-functional video wall in the control room, non-availability of Video Incident Detection and Enforcement System (VIDES) camera feed or software with expired license.
If critical equipment such as cameras including Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and VIDES are not restored within the permissible repair window, Rs 5,000 per day per unit will be charged, subject to conditions. Non-functional video walls could attract a penalty of Rs 50,000 per week per control room. And for the non-availability of VIDES feed, the fine is Rs 25,000 per instance.
Moreover, points are deducted from a 100-point scale based on performance of the contractors or service providers and identified shortcomings, with accumulated deductions could trigger contract termination.
ATMS deployment plays a key role in disaster management by providing real-time inputs for planning and response. It enables continuous monitoring of road conditions.
Officials said field inspections and audits had found that the operation and maintenance (O&M) of ATMS on several projects was not being adequately monitored, resulting in critical equipment remaining non-functional, they said.
If non-compliance is remedied to the satisfaction of the NHAI within the prescribed period, the technical division, with the approval of the concerned functionary, will take over the O&M of the system.