MUMBAI: Through Lok Adalat, a sum of Rs 17.47 crore in fines was recovered from motorists towards unpaid traffic challans, the Mumbai Traffic Police said in a statement on Sunday.
The Lok Adalat was held on Saturday. Motorists that had not paid up challans were issued notices in advance by the police via text messages. Cases of pending challans were produced before court.Nearly 2.4 lakh challans were pending, officials said.
Transport activists feel that expecting people to pay up on their own is not going to work and a mechanism for fine payment has to be developed. “When motorists understand that the consequences of violating laws are severe, they will think twice before breaking them,” said an activist.
Lok Adalat has been one of the key mechanisms for recovering unpaid challans. Besides, traffic police have been checking challans on vehicles when they pass toll nakas and asking them to pay up all previous unpaid challans at a go.