Mumbai-Pune expressway's e-challan system riles transporters; recovery just 9% of Rs 269 cr

Mumbai: The Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) on Mumbai-Pune Expressway has generated 17 lakh e-challans worth Rs 269.47 crore for traffic violations since it was implemented on July 19 last year but recovery from offenders stands at a measly 9 per cent till March 2025, officials said on Sunday.

The 1.51 lakh cleared e-challans, or 8.89 per cent of the total generated, amount to Rs 25.17 crore, which is 9.33 per cent of the total sum to be paid by offenders, as per officials documents.

As per an RTI reply, the Maharashtra government has paid the ITMS operator Rs 57.94 crore for the 8.84 lakh e-challans issued between July 19 and December 31 last year. The firm gets Rs 654.90, comprising its share of Rs 555 and 18 per cent GST, for every e-challan issued.

The project is being executed by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which built the expressway, in collaboration with the RTO and Highway Police under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. The state transport department has given Rs 45 crore viability gap funding from Road Safety Fund for the project that costs more than Rs 100 crore.

The MSRTC has installed 40 gantries and hundreds of CCTV cameras as part of ITMS, which also includes speed detection cameras, ANPR, weigh-in-motion sensors, AVCC, weather sensors, a dynamic messaging system, a command and control centre (CCC), and supporting infrastructure at multiple locations across the expressway.

As per the mechanism, a traffic violation report is generated through the ITMS system and verified at the Command Control Centre (CCC) by the operator's staff, and challans have to be approved by RTO officials.

While there is a provision to issue e-challans for 17 traffic violations, the ones handed down so far pertain to over-speeding, driving without seat belt, lane cutting, wrong side entry and use of mobile while driving, officials said.

Of the 17.07 lakh e-challans issued through ITMS system between July 2024 and March 2025, the highest 2.81 lakh e-challans were of November 2024, followed by 2.66 lakh for December and 2.56 lakh for January this year, as per transport department documents.

The reply to an RTI query by bus operator KV Shetty revealed that 18.25 lakh e-challans were generated by the operator between July 2024 and January 2025, but only 12 lakh e-challans were approved by RTO officials, while the remaining 6.25 lakh were rejected.

Documents show that the operator, Proctech Solutions ITMS LLP as per Shetty's RTI reply, gets Rs 654.90, comprising its share of Rs 555 and 18 per cent GST, for every e-challan issued.

An official on the condition of anonymity said ITMS went live in March 2024 without prior approval of the challan-generating devices as required under Rule 167 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989.

"The approval process was initiated only after the system went live, with the Transport Commissioner being appointed as the designated authority on July 4, 2024, and subsequently granting approval without any technical verification on July 16," an official said.

Transport Commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, while emails sent to MSRDC by PTI did not elicit any response.

Vehicle operators and former transport department officials also alleged the firm does not have adequate experience of handling such projects after being incorporated in December 2021.

Transport operators are unhappy at the flood of e-challans and urged authorities to take note of the resentment in the vital sector.

"When road safety is outsourced to a private company, safety often takes a back seat and financial gains become the priority. Under the pretext of road safety, challans are being issued indiscriminately. If this continues, the road transport industry will collapse," alleged bus operator and Mumbai Bus Malak Sanghatana functionary Harsh Kotak.

Baba Shinde, a leader of transporters, said challans are being issued for minor over-speeding, while repeated complaints to authorities have fallen on deaf ears.

The expressway, connecting Mumbai and Pune, was inaugurated in 2002 and is primarily used by cars, tempo, tankers, trailers, trucks, and buses, which two-wheelers and three-wheelers are officially prohibited.