Mumbai Police has mentioned that it has registered a total of 630 traffic violation cases against citizens during the lockdown. It is said that most of the violations were for unauthorized travel and the data revealed that 235 of these were committed in Mumbai’s northern suburbs while 151 were from the eastern regions of the metropolitan city.
While the movement of vehicles is prohibited in the city during the lockdown, hundreds of people still ventured outside with their private vehicles for shopping and other purposes. This is despite the government encouraging home delivery of goods and groceries. The police have also suspended challans of vehicles that were parked illegally across the city.
Only a handful of people are permitted to travel outside during the lockdown including police personnel, healthcare workers, and delivery agents. There are also certain exemptions listed out by the State and Central Governments for travel outside homes.
“Since there are hardly any vehicles moving around now, there has been a 75 per cent dip in e-challans being generated and issued daily. Maximum violations are currently being committed by two-wheelers. Since the only vehicles on the roads are those carrying out emergency services, we are not booking any vehicles for jumping red lights or encroaching zebra crossings. We have also reduced the duration of traffic signals to allow vehicles to pass through quickly,” the traffic official said.
In addition to the Motor Vehicles Act, citizens will also be slapped with Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code for violating lockdown orders. Among the city’s other traffic-related offences include overspeeding on empty or vacant roads. The number of police checkpoints has been increased as a result of this with officials mentioning that a checkpoint is located every two to three Kms.
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