LAHORE: The Punjab traffic police have launched a provincewide crackdown on those defaulting on the payment of e-challan fines issued by the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) for traffic laws violations, as the unpaid amount totals up to Rs6 billion.

In the first phase, the traffic police authorities have marked 1,000 violators, including 300 motorbike owners, involved in repeated violations of traffic laws, and fielded teams to track down and impound their cars, bikes etc.

In a related development, the traffic police authorities have been empowered to auction the vehicles involved in repeated violations under the (amended) Provincial Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1965, recently passed by the provincial assembly, to punish the `repeat offenders`.

On Wednesday, the traffic police in Lahore claimed to have rounded up a motorcyclist who reportedly violated traffic rules 313 times. The owner of the bike, however, paid the outstanding amount of Rs94,000 to secure hisrelease.

An official says that under the amended law a traffic officer couldinitiate the process for the auction if the unpaid fines` amount equals the price of the offender`s vehicle and the owner refuses to pay the amount on being caught.

`In case the amount the fine increases up to the total value of the impounded vehicle, the auction of such vehicle shall be made through the court by the authority impounding the vehicle in order to recover outstanding amount of the fine, reads the sub-section 13 of the amended section 116 A of the ordinance.

Similarly, the law also allows the traffic authorities to increase the fine by 10 percent monthly, if it remains unpaid during the stipulated time period.

`If the owner fails to pay the fine, due under sub section 11, within 30 working days from the impounding date of the vehicle, the fine amount shall be increased by ten percent of the outstanding amount of fine monthly,` reads the amended ordinance.

As per the law, if the vehicle owner claims that he was not driving the vehicle at the time of violation, he shall have to prove it before the traffic officer not below grade 17 by producing convincing evidence.

Quoting the data, the official saidthat a major chunk of the Rs6 billion unpaid e-challan fines is to be paid by the defaulters who committed traffic laws` violations in Lahore.

He said the PSCA e-challan is an electronic fine system introduced to effectively enforce traffic rules.

This involves use of high-tech tools like surveillance cameras and digital platforms for issuance of e-challans to a large number of vehicles, including nearly 3,800 of government departments, for offenses like speeding, crossing the centre line and illegal parking, besides signal and one-way rule violations.

He said that as most of the e-challans have been issued by the PSCA in Lahore, it shows that the authority`s cameras are either not installed or not fully operational in other districts of the province.

To a question, he said that the traffic authorities have also been empowered to trace the residential address of the repeat violators, knock their doors and alert them about the mount they had to pay for traffic violations.

However, he clarified that the traffic police are not allowed to impound the vehicles from the offenders` houses and can only intercept them on the roads.