Manish Tewari slams automated traffic challans as ‘extractive, extortive’; calls city 'Challangarh'

Chandigarh MP and former Union Minister Manish Tewari has endorsed the public perception that an extractive and extortive paradigm has been institutionalised through the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) in the city.

He was commenting on the reply by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to his question on traffic challans issued in Chandigarh in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The government has informed the MP that there was over 11-fold rise in the number of challans issued for traffic violations in Chandigarh through the ITMS network during the last five years.

From 78,396 in 2020, the count of automated traffic challans went up to 8,91,979 in 2023 and 8,46,960 in 2024.

“These figures testify to the fact that what people of Chandigarh are saying is absolutely correct that there is an extractive and extortive paradigm that has been institutionalised through this ITMS process,” the senior Congress parliamentarian told The Tribune over the phone.

Referring to what he called as the astronomical increase in the number of challans issued between 2022 and 2023 after the AI-enabled system was introduced in Chandigarh, Tewari said, “It perhaps must be more than the number of cars registered in Chandigarh. No wonder people in my erstwhile constituency of Anandpur Sahib — that rings around Chandigarh on three sides — call it 'Challangarh.”

Replying to the MP’s question, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed that the total number of traffic challans issued in Chandigarh under 91 different categories of violations during the last five years included 1,81,558 in 2020, 2,42,937 in 2021, 6,03,118 in 2022, 9,93,558 in 2023, and 9,95,797 in 2024.

He disclosed that a total of Rs 221.36 crore fine was imposed on the traffic violators during the last five years, of which Rs 119.15 crore has already been recovered while the remaining amount of Rs 102.21 crore was pending recovery.

On whether the government has received representations from citizens regarding problems caused by AI-powered CCTV-based enforcement, including instances where even minor transgressions like a vehicle marginally crossing a zebra line is penalised as violation, the Minister replied that the representations received were regularly reviewed to ensure fair traffic enforcement. “The challans generated through automated AI-based systems are re-verified manually by dedicated staff at the police command and control centre,” Rai added.