CUDDALORE: The Coimbatore City police planned to engage home guards to issue challans generated by the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and the newly installed Speed Radar guns at the violators’ doorstep.
City Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan said, “It is a pilot project and based on the feedback, the system will be implemented across the state.”
A total of seven Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras have already been installed at major junctions in the city. The cameras are connected to the server of the Intelligent Traffic Management System, developed by the National Informatics Centre. The cameras can automatically detect violations and the feeds will be cross-checked at the concerned police stations before the e-challan is issued.
The details of the fine will be sent as SMS with a payment link to the mobile number of the offender and the details of the challan would be sent to the respective Regional Transport Offices (RTO) as well.
Despite the ANPR system finding offences and generating challans automatically, many have failed to pay the penalty, not only in Coimbatore but across the state where the facility is present. Considering the difficulty in collecting the fine amount, the city police have appointed a dedicated team at the control room, who contact the violators by phone and ask them to settle their pending penalty.
“As the existing practice was not effective, it is advised that SHOs should send home guards directly to the houses of violators to issue the challan and insist they pay their fine immediately. In Coimbatore, we have assigned two home guards for each police station limits and they will manage the challan delivery work. They will be equipped with body cameras as there is a possibility that they may face inconvenient situations while approaching people for fines,” he added.