the goan I network
MARGAO
It’s double trouble for traffic violators, especially two-wheeler riders, in Salcete and down South.
While they have been booked by the traffic sentinels, particularly for the offence of riding without wearing the mandatory helmets, the traffic violators are made to stand in huge serpentine queues to pay the challans in the office of traffic department housed on the first floor of the Margao police headquarters.
Monday saw an exceptionally huge serpentine queue of traffic violators queuing up before the traffic office to pay the fines. While most of the two-wheelers had no disputes over the challans issued by the traffic department based on the footage captured by the traffic sentinels, they, however, were sore over the time taken by the traffic cops manning the notice department to clear the queue.
On an average, around 250-300 traffic violators turn up at the traffic cell notice section for the payment of fines, leaving a huge serpentine queue on the first floor of the district headquarters. A two-wheeler rider pointed out that the traffic department should put a mechanism in place wherein they pay the traffic challans without any hassles. “Most of the people who come to pay the fines are employed either in government or private sector. They cannot afford to waste time in standing in a huge queue and risk being marked absent from duty at the work place,” remarked a citizen.
He said the police department should put in place a hassle-free mechanism so that the violators clear their fines with ease and also report for work.
When The Goan called up the Deputy Superintendent of Police, South Prabodh Shirwaikar to shed light on the queues witnessed at the traffic notice cell, he said the traffic cell has tried to streamline the situation by putting in place five persons to issue receipts on the fines collected from the traffic violators. DySP Shirwaikar further went on to say that two staffers have been designated to accept the fines only from ladies and senior citizens as part of the streamlining process.
“After the head office has decided to send the challans by speed post, the number of motorists turning up to pay the fines has gone up substantially. To meet the requirements, we have put five staffers to clear the daily queue, including dedicated staffers only to attend to ladies and senior citizens,” DySP Shirwaikar added.
