Soon, motorists will get challans for violations on Atal Setu

MUMBAI: Seven months after it was inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi, motorists on the 21.8-km Atal Setu will start getting challans for their violations including lane-cutting, over-speeding and driving without a seatbelt. The government had delayed the process of penalising vehicles on the sea bridge for violations owing to the Lok Sabha elections.
The state transport department has decided to allot the contract of toll collection, maintenance and operation of the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) to a single agency. The appointment of a bidder is at the final stage and is expected to be completed in the next two weeks by MMRDA. The office of the transport commissioner will hand over the authority letter to the contractor for the operation and maintenance of the ITMS soon after this, according to officials from the transport department.
“At present motorists pay the toll to a temporary contractor appointed by MMRDA, but motorists violating traffic rules are not fined,” said an official from the transport department. “The installation of CCTV cameras and radars and the setting up of command-and-control rooms was part of the construction of the trans-harbour link. The tendering process to appoint the agency for its operation and maintenance has been completed and the ITMS is expected to be rolled out in the next two weeks.”
Once the system is implemented, motorists will be charged for 17 types of violations such as lane-cutting, rash driving and driving without a seatbelt. “Currently there is no control over the over-speeding of vehicles, leading to accidents,” said another officer from the department. “The introduction of the ITMS will help us bring in more discipline and reduce accidents. It will also help us generate revenue.”
Shailesh Kamat, joint transport commissioner, said that the ITMS had a provision for calculating average speed on the Atal Setu, and over-speeding at any point could lead to violation of rules. Another transport department official said that the fact that motorists were not being charged for over-speeding and lane-cutting was deliberately kept under wraps so that they did not run amuck in the absence of penalties. “Also, the announcement of the introduction of ITMS has to be done officially, as the Motor Vehicles Act clearly says that motorists cannot be charged if they are kept in the dark,” he said.
The ₹17840 crore 21.8-km long Atal Setu was inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi on January 12.