New Delhi: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said in a written reply to Lok Sabha that fine worth Rs 577 crore has been collected from since September 1 when the amended Motor Vehicle Act came into force across the country.


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In his reply, Gadkari said that traffic police across 18 states and Union Territories issued 38 lakh challans to motorists since the implementation of the new Motor Vehicles Act.


The data pertains to Chandigarh, Puducherry, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, and Haryana.


“Nearly 38,39,406 challans have been issued and Rs 5,77,51,79,895 collected after the implementation of certain provisions of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019”, the Union minister said. Gadkari, however, added that the actual revenue is not available and the data was based on the database of NIC (VAHAN, SARATHI).


According to Gadkari, the highest number of challans were recorded in Tamil Nadu at 14,13,996, while the least number of 58 challans were recorded in Goa.


The Union Minister also said that fatalities due to road accidents have decreased significantly during September-October of 2019 compared to the same period of 2018. The data available for nine states show that only Chhattisgarh saw a rise in fatalities. Puducherry saw the highest reduction in fatalities at -30.7 per cent. The deaths due to road accidents also came down in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry and Chandigarh.


Under the amended Motor Vehicles Act, the penalties for violations of traffic rules have been hiked significantly in several states but many states, including some governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had rejected the MV Act.