More staff for traffic department soon, says CM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday said that the State Government would take necessary steps to increase the manpower of the Traffic Department in the state.He was inaugurating the Traffic e-challan of the City Police, through which the traffic defaulters can pay the penalty through ATM counters of State Bank of Travancore and also through Akshaya Centres. Inaugurating the system, Chandy said that it has been a long-pending request of the Police Department to increase the manpower of the Traffic Department as the existing personnel was not sufficient to man the motor vehicle traffic that kept growing each day. However, the Government has been keeping the request in the shelf until now owing to various legal impediments and also financial crisis. He said that the road accidents were increasing  day by day and the cooperation of the people was inevitable in curbing the menace. People should understand that on-road vehicle checking by the police is for the former’s own good. The new e-challan system that was launched would address many problems faced by motorists during vehicle checkings, such as loss of time. He also said that the new system, which is being launched on an experimental basis in the city, would be expanded to other districts too, if proven a success.Transport Minister V S Sivakumar, Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose, Thiruvananthapuram Range IG K Padmakumar and City Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham also attended the inauguration.