PANAJI
Nearly a year after the Goa government is understood to have finalised a private player to revive the Traffic Sentinel Scheme, and several months after publicly signalling its return, the plan has purportedly stalled.
More than five years after the scheme was scrapped amid controversy over its alleged misuse by some citizen volunteers, its proposed revival appears to have been delayed by procedural hurdles and administrative red tape.
Officials had earlier indicated that the scheme would return in a new form under a public-private partnership model. Under the proposed arrangement, Mistotex Technology Pvt Ltd was shortlisted to implement the project, with the company expected to create the required infrastructure and share 60.5 per cent of the revenue generated from traffic fines with the government.
Sources said that under the proposed system, dash cameras equipped with artificial intelligence were to be installed on police vehicles and buses operated by the Kadamba Transport Corporation to detect violations in real time. These cameras were expected to capture offences including triple-seat riding on two-wheelers, riding without helmets, speeding and other traffic violations. “The live feed from the dash cams will be sent to the control room,” sources said.
An Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) unit mounted on the vehicles was also expected to transmit data in real time to a local computer system, including number plate details, device status, temperature readings, CPU usage and related operational metrics. Officials said the system would also display the pass or fail status of incoming and outgoing vehicles based on the verification of their documentation.
The revival was first discussed during a high-level review meeting in 2023, held against the backdrop of rising traffic violations and road accidents in the State.
At the time, it was decided that the Sentinel Scheme would be reviewed and reintroduced initially with police personnel alone reporting violations for action by senior officers.
“The department had also contemplated allowing public participation in the future, but with stringent norms,” sources said, recalling concerns over misuse during the earlier version of the scheme.
The department had also explored the possibility of collaborating with hotels, industries and other establishments to recognise and reward police personnel through corporate social responsibility initiatives linked to the scheme.
Originally launched in 2017 as the brainchild of former Director General of Police Muktesh Chander, the Traffic Sentinel Scheme sought to promote community policing by enabling citizens to report traffic violations through a mobile application.
The scheme, which offered monetary incentives to citizens for reporting offences, was first kept in abeyance from July to December 2020 and was officially scrapped by the State Cabinet in January 2021.
At the time, the government had said that enforcement by the traffic police and CCTV surveillance would be sufficient to improve road discipline.
