HYDERABAD: Breaking traffic rules? Beware. Your fellow city residents are watching you. In the last five months alone, traffic cops across the three commissionerates issued 30,000 challans based on complaints raised by vigilant residents and collected fines of Rs 1 crore.

These ‘tip-offs’ were posted on the traffic police’s social media platforms—X, WhatsApp, and Facebook. The commonly reported offences include riding without a helmet, jumping signals, and wrong parking.There are also cases of triple riding, wrong-side driving, cellphone driving, and rash driving. Each of these was accompanied by photos and videos.Some of the complaints brought to the notice of police by residents in the last 48 hours include blocking free left at Tarnaka X roads by a govt vehicle, triple riding without a helmet at Tank Bund, rude behaviour by a driver when questioned about driving in the wrong direction in Trimulgherry, and driving without a helmet while using a cellphone in Miyapur. “We have a dedicated team at the commissioner’s office to monitor grievances via social media and alert officials on the ground. Recently, we noticed a surge in these complaints, especially regarding wrong parking in residential areas,” said a cop.Records confirm this spike in citizen complaints. In 2024, traffic police from the three commissionerates issued 50,000 challans (of the total 15 lakh), following public complaints. Cyberabad commissionerate limits alone contributed 44,000 challans. This helped cops raise around Rs 1.5 crore in penalties.In 2025, traffic police have already collected close to 70% of that in less than six months. The total challans issued so far this year is around 20 lakh. “Enforcement of traffic management faces limitations as the focus remains on maintaining traffic flow. That makes it challenging to monitor every violation, despite the CCTV coverage. Therefore, citizens’ assistance is valuable in penalising offenders,” said Rahul Hegde BK, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Hyderabad Commissionerate.He added: “In the last 17 months, we raised ₹36 lakh with their help. Upon receiving complaints, our team verifies authenticity by contacting complainants and reviewing nearby CCTV footage before generating the challan.” In the last five months alone, traffic cops across the three commissionerates issued 30,000 challans based on complaints raised by vigilant residents and collected fines of ₹1 crore.