A day after the state government’s announcement of a 50 per cent concession on traffic offence penalties, the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) has collected more than a whopping Rs 5 crore in fines.
“As of 7.55 pm today, we have already received over Rs 5.61 crore in fines, with Rs 3,23,68,900 paid through Paytm,” Dr M A Saleem, Special Commissioner (Traffic), Bengaluru, told DH. A total of 2,01,828 cases were cleared by 7.55 pm on Friday.
BTP said about 1,04,280 cases were settled through payments via Paytm. Traffic offenders cleared 89,699 cases at local traffic police stations through personal digital assistants, paying a total of Rs 2,17,24,950 (by 7.55 pm). About Rs 19,08,050 was collected through Bangalore One centres, clearing 7,316 cases. At the Traffic Management Centre, 540 cases were settled, raking in Rs 1,43,100.
The BTP website — https://btp.gov.in — crashed since the announcement became public on Friday as people tried to make the most of the one-time offer.
Of the total Rs 500 crore due to be paid by traffic violators in the city, at least Rs 250 crore is expected to be collected by February 11, when the incentive period ends.
The KarnatakaOne website also reported snags in the payment rush.
Akshay Kumar, a resident of BTM Layout, paid only Rs 50 for his speeding ticket by forwarding the details of his vehicle to a friend who paid the amount via Paytm.
“Servers of the official websites are probably overloaded and are not opening,” he said. Kumar, however, noted that the Paytm application also faced server issues while accessing the challan information.
The traffic police have encouraged people to make use of different payment options, including payments at the nearby traffic police stations and the Traffic Management Centre on Infantry Road.