Over Rs 7 cr collected from traffic challans

Tribune News Service

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Ludhiana, March 21

The industrial hub, which is known for having turbulent traffic, leads when it comes to wrong parking violations.

Service launched in 2016

The tow-away service was launched by the Ludhiana Commissionerate in 2016 to end the menace of wrong parking by residents. From 2016 to 2021, over 1,18,154 vehicles were towed away by the traffic police.

Wrong parking violations also contribute funds to the public exchequer in the form of penalties being levied on violators as the major part of the penalties collected goes into the pocket of private contractors who have been allotted the contracts.

As per data of wrong parking challans obtained from the traffic police in the past over six years (from November 2016 to February 2023), challans for wrong parking have yielded over Rs 7.20 crore in the form of penalties from the violators by towing away over Rs 1.35 lakh vehicles, including two-wheelers. Of the total 1.35 lakh wrong parking challans, 85,000 four-wheelers and 50,000 two-wheelers were towed away.

Notably, the tow-away service was launched by the Ludhiana Commissionerate in 2016 to end the menace of wrong parking by residents.

Traffic data states that from 2016 to 2021, over 1,18,154 vehicles, including 43,707 two-wheelers and 74,447 four-wheelers, were towed away and in lieu of this, over Rs 6.29 crore in penalties were collected.

Further in the year 2022, 15,324 vehicles were towed away, including 9,313 four-wheelers and 6,011 two-wheelers. In the present year till February, out of the total 2,154 tow-away challans, 1,345 are of four-wheelers and 809 are of two-wheelers and against these challans, Rs 11.46 lakh fine was levied on the violators.

Additional DCP (Traffic) Sameer Verma said the traffic police have towing vans, which roam around the city to tow away vehicles parked wrongly on city roads. In the near future, the traffic police may also increase the number of vans to increase coverage in the industrial hub. “The traffic police have no intention to levy fine on public as we want residents to co-operate with Traffic Police and park their vehicles sensibly,” added ADCP Verma.