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17 Lakh Challans, Just 9% Recovery: Faulty E-challan Blitz on Mumbai-Pune Expressway Raises Alarm
Moneylife Digital Team 27 June 2025
Consumer Interest
A high-tech surveillance system installed to ensure road safety on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway is now at the centre of a growing controversy. Since its implementation in July 2024, the intelligent traffic management system (ITMS) has issued more than 1.7mn (million) e-challans worth Rs269.47 crore — but managed to recover less than 9% of that amount, raising serious questions about its reliability, fairness, and financial viability, reveals a reply received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. 
 
According to the RTI reply received by transport operator KV Shetty, only 151,000 e-challans—about 8.89% of the total issued—have been settled as of March 2025, bringing in Rs25.17 crore in payments. The poor recovery is compounded by a more alarming discovery: over 624,000 e-challans, roughly 34% of those issued between July and December 2024, were found to be erroneous and were subsequently rejected.
 
Launched under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, the ITMS project is operated by Proctech Solutions ITMS LLP and executed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), in collaboration with the RTO and Highway Police. Despite being touted as an intelligent, automated system driven by artificial intelligence, CCTV surveillance and high-end sensors, the ITMS has clearly misfired.
 
According to the reply received by Mr Shetty, the system generated 1.82 mn e-challans between July 2024 and January 2025. However, only only 1.2mn of these were approved by RTO officials; the remaining 625,000 were rejected after being found invalid.
 
These figures imply an astonishing error rate — nearly one in every three challans was incorrect.
 
Ironically, while the state recovered only Rs25 crore in fines, it paid nearly Rs58 crore to the private operator for issuing 884,000 challans in the first five months of the system's rollout. As per RTI data, the operator earns Rs654.90 per challan (Rs555 plus 18% goods and services tax - GST), regardless of whether the fine is eventually paid or found to be erroneous.
 
The project itself costs over Rs100 crore, with the transport department chipping in Rs45 crore as viability gap funding from the road safety fund. The infrastructure includes 40 gantries, hundreds of CCTV cameras, speed detection systems, ANPR (automatic number plate recognition), weigh-in-motion sensors, weather detectors, and a central command and control centre.
 
The backlash from motorists and transporters has been swift and severe. Many say they are being fined for violations they never committed, including driving on the wrong side, minor lane deviations, or alleged over-speeding, despite staying within the permissible limits.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Adding fuel to the fire, officials have revealed that the ITMS began operations in March 2024 without prior technical approval of its challan-generating equipment, as mandated under rule 167 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.
 
The incident has triggered public calls for a complete audit of the ITMS system. Citizens and civil society groups are demanding a human verification layer, transparency in how challans are processed, and a robust, citizen-friendly redressal mechanism.
 
Motorists say they often pay up to avoid bureaucratic hurdles or legal follow-up, despite being innocent. Many online forums are now flooded with complaints from drivers who received vague or unjustified challans weeks after travel, often without clear evidence or context.
 
 
 
The ITMS project, originally envisioned as a solution to reckless driving and rising road fatalities, now stands at a crossroads. While authorities claim that the system has brought down accidents, the sheer volume of incorrect challans and the low recovery rate suggest deeper issues with its design and implementation.
 
As Maharashtra continues its push toward tech-driven enforcement, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway’s experience offers a cautionary tale: automation without accountability can become not a tool of safety, but a source of mass harassment.
 
Unless urgently reviewed and recalibrated, the ITMS risks losing public trust — and turning a highway safety initiative into a toll booth of injustice.
Comments
jobby
10 months ago
Same thing done by Pune RTO. Issuing wrong challans. No accountability.
Reply
parimalshah1
10 months ago
Choro ki mili bhagat
Reply
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