People demand extension of Feb. 11 deadline to avail 50% rebate

Mysore/Mysuru:  There is a mad rush at almost all jurisdictional Traffic Police Stations in city to avail the 50 percent rebate on penalties for violation of traffic rules. With the last date to obtain the rebate is Feb. 11, people are demanding the extension of the deadline.

In a temporary measure to clear backlogged cases, the Transport Department on Feb. 2 announced a 50 percent rebate on paying fines for pending traffic challans in the State. The rebate, a one-time offer, will only be granted to violators if they pay the fines by Feb. 11. The Transport Department issued order on e-challans that are booked for traffic violations caught on traffic surveillance cameras in the city. People who want to pay the fines for e-challan cases can visit the nearest Traffic Police Stations. Alternatively, they can also pay the fine through PayTM or Karnataka One website.

Interestingly, many in Mysuru are opting for physical payments and as a result, there is a rush at all the Traffic Police Stations, especially K.R. Traffic Station. This morning, there was a long queue in front of the Station to pay the fine. Queues were also seen at V.V. Puram, Narasimharaja, Devaraja, Kuvempunagar and Siddhartha Traffic Stations.

Some of them in the queue were seen requesting the Policemen to extend the deadline.

Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, City Police Commissioner B. Ramesh said that as of now there is no proposal to extend the deadline.

“See, the Transport Department and the State Government had taken the decision to offer a rebate. In case they want to extend the deadline, they will communicate the same and we will implement it accordingly,” the Commissioner said.

Penalty data after rebate

From November 2019 to November 2022, 25,51,048 e-challan cases were pending in Mysuru and the traffic penalties amounted to Rs. 127,82,93,700.

After the 50 percent rebate was announced, from Feb.3, 2023 till Feb.7 (10 am), 69,419 cases came to a close with the payment of fine amounting to Rs. 1,46,73,800. The pending e-challan cases recorded during that period were 24,81,629 amounting to Rs. 126,36,19,900.

From Feb.3, 2023 till Feb.7 (9 pm), 1,00,943 cases were closed and the Mysuru City Police collected a pending fine of Rs. 2,12,59,650. From Feb.3, 2023 till Feb.9 (12 noon), 1,51,088 cases were closed and the Police collected a penalty of Rs. 3,15,97,450.