Chennai traffic police introduces QR code system for motorists to pay fines for violations

While the Chennai Traffic Police shifted to a cashless e-challan system in March 2018, they found several discrepancies in the challan (fine) payment, a press release said. The police then started sending reminders to defaulters about their pending dues through recently launched call centres and noticed an improvement in compliance from 21 per cent to 47 per cent. Hence, in a bid to ease the process of payment of fines, Chennai Traffic Police decided to introduce a QR code at checking spots.

According to the plan, 300 small handheld QR code cards will be distributed to all enforcement officers. Traffic violators can scan the code, which will take them to the Paytm app e-challan page. After entering the challan ID and vehicle number, users can complete the payment using any of the payment modes, including UPI.

The training process has been initiated to over 200 traffic officers to guide users to pay their fine through the handheld QR code cards. In addition, 18 QR code standees have been provided at 12 call centres which will call the defaulters and inform them about their pending challans. Traffic violators can visit call centres and scan the code from the standees under the guidance of the staff.

In other news, the Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) has also introduced an additional option for commuters to buy QR code tickets directly in stations. This is expected to reduce the congestion at the ticketing counters during peak hours. Under the new system, there will be QR code boards put up at vantage points in the stations. A commuter can scan the code and buy the ticket from the ticketing page of Chennai Metro Rail.