Traffic police chief’s vehicle fined under new e-ticketing system

The newly introduced faceless e-ticketing system in Karachi has issued an e-challan to the official vehicle of DIG Pir Muhammad Shah, the city’s traffic police chief, for a seatbelt violation.

The DIG’s vehicle was fined Rs10,000 after the driver was found to have been driving without a seatbelt along the Lyari Expressway near the Garden Interchange. At the time of the violation, the DIG himself was not present in the vehicle. His police escort was reportedly on their way to pick him up from the Garden Headquarters.

Traffic DSP (Admin) Kashif Nadeem confirmed the challan, and said the vehicle is registered under the Sindh Police Central Police Office. He added that the DIG had strictly instructed the driver to wear a seatbelt, and would ensure the fine is paid. “This is a technology-based system; whether it’s a government vehicle or a private one, challans are issued to everyone.”

DSP Nadeem said that during the first 24 hours of the system’s implementation, 4,300 e-challans had been issued, while on the second day (Wednesday), within just 15 hours, around 3,800 challans had already been generated.

These included 2,001 tickets for seatbelt violations, 478 for over-speeding, 827 for riding without helmets, 123 for mobile phone use while driving, 260 for red-light violations, 17 for tinted windows, 31 for illegal or wrong parking, and eight for one-way violations.

“Our system runs from midnight to midnight,” DSP Nadeem explained. “On the first day, 4,300 challans were issued in 24 hours, while today (Wednesday), within 15 hours, nearly 3,800 have already been issued, indicating that the number of violations being captured is rising.”

He said that while the system can record the number and type of violations, it does not automatically calculate the total monetary value of fines. However, a rough estimate can be made manually.

“For example, on the first day, 101 challans were issued to heavy vehicles, 21 of them tracker-based. Heavy vehicle fines start from Rs20,000 and can go up to Rs100,000. If we take the minimum figure and multiply it by 101 violations, the total comes to nearly Rs2 million.”

DSP Nadeem further explained that the current fines are being issued through 1,076 installed cameras, but once all 12,000 cameras are fully operational, the number of challans is expected to rise significantly.

Karachi has around 378 major intersections, while an estimated 1,000 traffic signals are required across the city. Currently, there are only about 138 signals, of which 90 to 95 are functional.

Commenting on the shortage of traffic signals, DSP Nadeem said the Traffic Engineering Department (under the Karachi Development Authority) has been repeatedly requested through official letters to increase the number of signals in the city.

On the first day of the faceless e-ticketing system, 419 challans had been issued for over-speeding, three for lane violations, four for stop-line violations and 1,535 for not wearing seatbelts.

Additionally, 166 challans had been issued for red-light violations, 507 for riding without helmets, four for wrong-way driving, seven for tinted windows, five for illegal parking, 32 for mobile phone use while driving and three for driving in the wrong direction.