Chandigarh recorded over 18 lakh red light violations in 15 months; nearly 4 lakh of them were in first 3 months of 2024

Apart from jumping the red light, 66,337 cases were filed under the speeding category in the first three months. Of the total cases, 58,910 challans have been issued till now.

When asked about the difference between the number of violations detected and the challans issued, a senior traffic police officer while speaking to The Indian Express said, “Once the camera detects the violations for us, we verify each of them and then challans are issued. However, some vehicles are exempted from challans such as fire tenders and ambulances who jump red signals for emergencies. But the software is unable to recognise them as emergency vehicles. Thus the need for verification.”

In these three months, as many as 1,22,016 violations of stop lines have also been noted.

Last year, from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023, 14,01,441 violations of the red light were recorded while 2,24,158 violations of over speeding were clocked in Chandigarh. Of the total number of over speeding cases, challans were issued in 1,91,627 cases last year.

From February 2022 to February 2023, as many as 5,47,900 challans were issued to people for violating the traffic rules.

There are 900 CCTV cameras that have been installed at various locations throughout Chandigarh for surveillance. These cameras are monitored through the Command and Control Centre.

Around 285 different locations in the city are being monitored on a real-time basis by these advanced cameras. The locations include intersections, government schools, entry and exit points, water treatment facilities, parking lots, hospital entrances, gardens etc.

The administration boasts that the CCTV surveillance system has assisted the police in solving more than 500 crime cases as well which include cases like murder, snatching, road accident, hit and run, motor vehicle theft, burglary etc.

Chandigarh began surveillance in 2022

In 2022, the ICCC building was inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. It was stated that this command control surveillance system will help in making people traffic discipline and check all traffic violations which were being done manually prior to this.

According to the officials, this command centre was to act as the brain of the city with an on-premise data centre hosting relevant solutions for all following field systems and data analytics tools for informative decision making, better disaster management and smarter governance.

Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) had signed a contract with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for implementing the Integrated Command and Control Center (ICCC) in the Union Territory.

The project had cost Rs 295 crore that includes civil construction for the various buildings.