Since Monday, the surveillance system used across the satellite city to issue e-challans for traffic offences is non-functional, because the civic body owes Reliance Communications Rs 45 lakh in dues
What was seen as an achievement in the satellite city is now lying useless due to delay from authorities at the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).
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Officials say the CCTV surveillance had helped reduce traffic violations by half. File pic for representation
The NMMC was the first civic body in the state to install CCTV surveillance cameras for issuing e-challans for traffic offences. This monitoring system has now gone dark, after the civic body failed to make timely payments to the Internet service provider (ISP).
Service to all 262 high-definition cameras installed across major spots in Navi Mumbai has been stopped by Reliance Communications, the company which provides the Internet connection that connects all cameras to the control room.
According to officials at the CCTV Control Room Centre, the civic body is required to pay Rs 45 lakh to Reliance Commu-nications for services used till date. But the delay in payments has forced Reliance to disconnect the service; no camera works, all monitoring screens are completely blank and the city is without any surveillance on roads since Monday.
Keeping an eye on traffic
The system was installed so as to catch traffic offenders and issue e-challans to them. The initiative was started on August 1 this year and, till now, over 200 motorists have been booked for violating various traffic rules.
Out of these, 70 motorists have paid the fine. Motorists can either pay the penalty at the respective traffic offices in the city or make an online payment on the Navi Mumbai Traffic police website.
As the monitoring has now plunged into darkness, the process of issuing e-challans has also stopped. Officials at the control room revealed that with no surveillance on the city roads, it has become very difficult to monitor traffic movement at major junctions.
It will also be difficult to respond to any emergency situation, should it crop up, they added. Officials also noted that with the e-challan system, the number of traffic offence cases had reduced by 50 per cent.
NMMC speak
G V Rao, additional city engineer, IT department, said, “We are under the process of completing the payment. A notification has already been sent to the accounts department. The connection will be restored very soon.”
200
Number of offenders caught with the help of CCTV surveillance system till date
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