Waive off pending traffic challans, demands Congress

Waive off | The Congress party demanded that the Telangana Government waive off all the pending traffic challans or at least extend the discount offer by another three months.

Congress senior leader and former Chairman of Hyderabad Congress Minorities Department Sameer Waliullah, in a media statement, said that of nearly 3 crore challans, about 65% of motorists availed of the one-time discount offer and made the payments. However, nearly 35% of people could not clear the pending challan due to multiple reasons, including financial inability. “While we don’t support those who violated the traffic norms, we don’t consider those motorists as serious offenders.

All of them have committed a mistake by not adhering to the traffic norms, but their mistakes are not unforgivable. Most of the motorists who did not avail of the one-time discount offer are not stubborn but financially disturbed due to rising inflation. Therefore, the State Government should consider waiving off all pending challans as one-time relief,” he demanded.

Waive off

Sameer Waliullah said that the people were badly hit due to rising prices of petrol, diesel and other essential products. He said that the income of the common man has remained the same over the last few years, but the expenditure has increased manifold. Therefore, those people are unable to clear their pending challan despite being given a huge discount, he said.

Congress asks TS Govt to spend challan amounts on road safety

“Hyderabad Traffic Police is reportedly planning to collect the pending challans from the doorstep of violators or seize their vehicles. Authorities should realise that people who could not pay 25% of the challan amount will never be able to pay 100% of the amount. The seizure of vehicles from their doorstep will only cause public humiliation to lakhs of motorists. This proposal should be dropped,” he said.

The Congress leader said that the State Government should ideally waive off all the pending challans as one-time relief. Such people can be let off with a stern warning that they would be made to pay the previous challan amount if they violate the traffic norms again. If a total waiver is not possible, the State Government should consider extending the discount offer by another three months, he demanded.

Further, Sameer Waliullah said that the State Government has collected nearly Rs. 303 Crore worth challan amount as part of discount offer. He said that the entire amount should be spent on road safety measures. He said that the State Government should issue specific directions to ensure that the money collected from traffic violators towards challans is spent on converting ‘accident-prone zones’ into ‘safe zones’. He said many lives have been lost in accidents caused due to inappropriate U-Turns, wrong road dividers or speed breakers, lack of street lights, or other causes. He said that the traffic challan amount could be utilised to improve these facilities.

“The State Government should not treat traffic challans as a mode of revenue. Instead, it should focus on maximum regulation, minimum fines,” he said.

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