Smart traffic management system hits roadblock in 5 weeks; violations flagged

Mumbai: Days after the finance department flagged violations in the awarding of 2,567 square meters of prime land at Sion to Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank without following due process, the department has pointed to flaws in the awarding of contract to implement Intelligent Traffic Management Systems (ITMS).
Intelligent Traffic Management System, an AI-powered traffic system helps in streamlining vehicular flow and road safety. It was introduced for the first time in Maharashtra five weeks ago on the 94-kilometer-long Mumbai-Pune Expressway. A ₹450 crore contract was awarded to the Thane-headquartered Protechmanize Solutions Private Limited.
As per the terms of the contract the company is scheduled to get ₹550 for each challan issued by its AI-driven system. In all there are seventeen types of challans ranging from speeding, driving without seat belt to talking on the phone while driving.
The problem arose after the company started demanding money for the challans issued but which the government has not yet recovered from the violators. The other problem is that the agency which has installed 18 cameras on each of the 25 gantries installed for ITMS is issuing multiple challans sent to the motorist on a single journey. So, for instance, if someone is driving without a seat belt, they would get multiple challans for that one violation captured by the multiple cameras installed.
Forty officers from three regional transport offices have been deployed to issue the challans after verification of the photographs sent by the agency. At least two lakh challans are issued a week to motorists for the violations with the agency pegged to get ₹300 crore over the next eight years.
The finance and transport departments have, however, pointed to flaws in the implementation of the system. “The finance department has said that the bidding process had no administrative approval taken from the state government. The state government has also questioned the transport commissionerate for not capping the number of challans in a single journey. The government has questioned why the agency paid commission without first recovering penalties from the motorists,” said an official from the finance department who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The finance department has also questioned the high rate of ₹550 per challan given to the Thane-based agency. “The Motor Vehicle Act says levying penalty should aim at preventing violations and not recovering penalty from the motorist. It has the mandate of wide awareness about the new penalty system, but the ITNS was launched on the Mumbai-Pune expressway without intimating the motorists,” said an official from the transport department.
When asked about these discrepancies and the objections raised by the finance department, Transport commissioner VL Bhimanwar said, “The provision of capping the number of fines was not a tender condition, we have now made it mandatory to issue only one challan in a journey, except for speed-related violations. It is true that in initial few days we have issued multiple challans for the same journey, and the motorists will have to approach the government through e-court for the waiver. The tender was finalised by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), while the issuance of challans and their recovery is with us. The MSRDC will be able to comment on the tender conditions about the high rate of commission to the agency,” he said. Bhimanwar also added that though they have set the target of 300 challans per officer per day, they have not been able to issue those many challans.