LUCKNOW: Even as higher penalties were implemented for traffic violations from September, the whip cracked by UP Police this year found the maximum number of violations in the state’s two busiest cities—Varanasi and Noida.
Between January 19 and December 2 this year, more than 8.1 lakh violators were fined in Varanasi, ahead of 7.1 lakh in Noida.
Among all cities, though, Noida reported the highest amount in penalties with Rs 11 crore for the period.
While Varanasi generated a revenue of Rs 3.1 crore, Ghaziabad and Lucknow fared better with a collection of Rs 6.2 crore and Rs 4.5 crore, respectively. Bareilly with Rs 4.1 crore and Agra with revenue of Rs 2.1 crore followed.
Overall, UP Police made a collection of Rs 50 crore in the period from fines for traffic violations.
However, e-challans which were sent to many violators could not yield immediate collection. Nearly Rs 188 crore is pending with them.
Even then, the collection has been the highest in the past decade when it wavered between Rs 20 crore and Rs 35 crore every year.
The city with the lowest number of challans issued was Sitapur, where only 10 people were fined. Fatehgarh (43), Kaushambi (100), Banda (342), Mahoba (377) and Hardoi (462) were among the bottom 10.
In Gorakhpur, around 69,000 people were penalised for such violations, generating Rs 1.5 crore in revenue.
The reason behind the surge in collection was attributed to both hand-held devices with police personnel as well as their increased numbers.