Fixed Bullet Cameras and Pan Tilt Zoom Cameras are used for surveillance purposes (Representational)
Nearly 3 lakh e-challans have been issued so far through the Integrated Security and Traffic Management System (ISTMS), a facility of hi-tech smart cameras which were installed in Noida last year, according to official data.
A majority of the 2,96,265 e-challans generated between May 2022 and April 2023 from the ISTMS pertain to most common violations like driving without a helmet, triple riding on two-wheelers and red light jumping, said the officials operating the system.
The ISTMS is located at the Command and Control Centre in Sector 94 and works in close coordination with the Noida Authority as well as the Traffic Police. It was launched on May 21 last year and is managed by Efkon India Private Limited, they said.
The scope of the project includes CCTV Surveillance at 82 key locations in Noida, an adaptive traffic control system at 40 locations that allows remote-controlling of red and green lights at traffic signals, public announcement systems and emergency calling boxes (SOS) at 82 locations, among other features.
The tech team of Efkon, which works in sync with traffic personnel, said that two types of cameras -- Fixed Bullet Cameras and Pan Tilt Zoom Cameras (PTZ) -- are used for surveillance purposes.
"Live feed of these cameras can directly be viewed in the control room 24X7 and their recording is also done. In case, one wants to view older data they can play from a video management system," a tech team member said, preferring not to be named.
Although the e-challans generated by the ISTMS count for less than half of the total penalties, the traffic police said that the system has come in handy not only for traffic management but also for surveillance purposes and in some cases even to track criminals.
"The ISTMS has been quite helpful in various roles, primarily for traffic management and generation of e-challans. Additionally, it has also been helpful in crime detection in which the video footage from the ISTMS often comes handy," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Anil Kumar Yadav told PTI.
However, Yadav noted that a lot of e-challans generated through this facility do not materialise in cases where the number plates are broken, tampered or dirty, making it unable to penalise the correct vehicle.
Another issue comes with the e-challan of a vehicle at multiple locations at times, the IPS officer said.
"These shortcomings need to be fixed and the system is to be made more streamlined in future to leverage its advantage," Yadav told PTI.
According to official figures, footage from the ISTMS has been used by the police in 182 cases including those of accident, theft, snatching, loot, missing person, missing vehicle, and missing objects.
"There have been at least half a dozen murder cases also in which the footage from the smart cameras have helped the police track and trace suspected criminals," an ISTMS official said.
"In order to enforce people to follow traffic rules, the police team is penalising people who are doing violations. With the Traffic Violation Detection System (TVDS), different types of violations are captured automatically and after a one-step auditing process challans are being generated," the official added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)