Computerised System in Realising Fines by CMP
Corruption declines, revenue increases
A policeman of the Traffic Department of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) uses a computer to keep accounts.Photo: STAR
Computerisation of the traffic department of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) has reduced corruption in the department as well as increased collection of revenue a record high compared to the previous years. Traffic Department of CMP has realised Tk 6 crore in fines during the last one and a half years following the system introduced in December in 2006. The department filed over 10 lakh cases against different vehicles in the city areas for violating traffic rules from January 2006 to June this year and fined them over Tk 5.72 crore. Sources in the department said around Tk 4 crore has been collected as fine during the last fiscal year as of June 30 compared to Tk 2.41 crore during the previous fiscal year. Action was taken against the CNG-run auto-rickshaws for not installing meter and buses for hampering smooth vehicular movement and wrong parking. If a section of sergeants or constables were not involved in taking bribes from the violators the department could earn more, an official in the department said preferring anonymity. It is a common allegation against the traffic sergeants and constables that they are involved in different types of corruption, including gobbling up of a major portion of the revenue of the department while collecting fines from the violators of the traffic rules. Owners of the seized vehicles are to bribe the officials at the traffic office for returning their vehicles, alleged Haji Zakaria, a former leader of the bus owners' association. These officials, including top ones in the CMP (traffic), also allegedly shared the money collected as fines since the previous system for preserving data on fine collection had many loopholes. Moreover, incidents of taking bribe from vehicles by the on-duty traffic sergeants and constables on the city streets were very common in the previous years, allowing the vehicles to ply without valid documents as well as reckless driving, commuters alleged. Deputy Commissioner (DC) (traffic) Abu Sufian said the department deposited around Tk 30 lakh a month collected as penalty after launching the system while it was Tk 10 lakh to Tk 12 lakh a month earlier. The officials said introduction of the computerised system for realising fines and repeated drives against the violators of traffic rules helped collect such an amount. Before launching the computerised system, corrupt officials at the traffic department used to gobble up a good amount of the fines collected from the violators. Now there is no scope for taking any amount of the penalty since every single data regarding the fines, including type of rule violation, amount of fine and section under the traffic rule are being filled up in computerised system using a software, Sufian said. Traffic sergeants are not empowered to collect any sort of fines on the spot as they are to provide one portion of a document regarding fine to the drivers and submit other portion to the data collection section of the department. The drivers and owners now are to pay the penalty money at the traffic department that provides them with printed receipt copies after receiving the money. Different officials at the department, including the DC, can check all the data through their own computers as soon as they are put in the computer section with the help of servers, said Sergeant Nazmul Islam, prosecution-in-charge.
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