FAISALABAD: The traffic police authority recovered more than Rs9 million from over 100 traffic wardens and inspectors who embezzled millions of rupees taking an advantage of the flawed challan system.

At least 306 wardens and 11 inspectors involved in the embezzlement are facing inquiries while 17 guilty wardens have been terminated and their cases sent to the Anti-Corruption Establishment for further investigation.

The traffic police, in its efforts to check such an embezzlement in future, will launch a computerised system featuring information from challan books to complete particulars of violators.

Chief Traffic Officer Arif Shahbaz Wazir said the inquiry against the accused wardens and inspectors had been pending for months while the investigation process was accelerated and Rs9m embezzled amount was deposited with the exchequer.

17 guilty wardens terminated

Sources privy to the development said that senior wardens (inspectors) and traffic wardens had been misappropriating the money of challan tickets by tampering with challan books.

They said wardens used to challan violators under sections whose challan amount digits were changed without being detected.

They said it was the duty of wardens to confiscate the documents of violators and submit them with the branch concerned after getting the receipt. But they would receive the fine amount in cash which they would never deposit into the national kitty.

Some wardens deposited the documents of violators in the challan branch and obtained receipts, but some duty officers released the confiscated documents to violators by receiving amount in cash and embezzled it.

Sources said some wardens would challan commercial vehicles which were changed with challan of bikes by tampering with the receipts.

The CTO said the accused and guilty wardens took advantage of the negligence of the CTO people.

He said a Challan Information and Management System would be launched shortly as the software to check such corruption had been designed.

He said the system would carry information of challaned vehicle, its category, challan book issued from headquarters to circle and sector and then the officer, issued ticket and its paid information, name of the offender and his father, his address, date of challan, bank name and statements of wardens.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2016