About 4,717 Closed Circuit Television cameras have been installed in Mumbai. (Representational)

Mumbai police today launched a 'CCTV challan' initiative, which would help in issuing fines to road rule violators without traffic police personnel being present on the site.The first-of-its-kind initiative was inaugurated at the traffic police headquarters in Worli this morning.As a part of the initiative, about 4,717 Closed Circuit Television cameras (CCTVs) have been installed throughout Mumbai which will record traffic violations, a senior official said.Elaborating on the process, he said the traffic violator will receive an SMS along with the evidence of him/her violating traffic rules, he said.The challan fine can be paid on the Mumbai traffic police website.Once implemented, it will reduce the manpower required for fining motorists and help decongest traffic.Traffic policemen often have to ask motorists to stop on roadside to explain the offence and hand over the receipt.

At present, the Mumbai traffic police issues about 6,000 challans per day by detecting traffic violations, stopping the offender, persuading them, writing of challans and accepting the fine amount. Maintaining the account is also a time consuming process, the official said.CCTV challan will also reduce human interference, which at times leads to altercation. It also reduces the time spent by traffic officers on actual regulation duty, he added.