Agra: Over 18 lakh vehicles were found speeding on the Yamuna expressway in the first seven months of this year. However, in comparison to this whopping number of violations, traffic police at three toll plazas (Agra, Mathura and Jewar) on the 165km-long route issued just a little over 12,300 challans, according to a reply to an RTI query.The magnitude of the problem can be gauged from the fact that of around 5 lakh vehicles which pass through the Jewar toll plaza every month, on an average 1.5 lakh are found to be driving over the prescribed limit, according to a reply to an RTI query.Speeding and tyre burst have been termed to be the two main causes of fatal accidents on the expressway by the Central Road Research Institute.According to data provided by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), the Jewar toll plaza recorded speeding by 11.01 lakh vehicles, while the Mathura toll plaza saw 2.16 lakh violations and the Agra toll plaza 4.97 lakh.The private concessionaire stated that data for speeding is available with it and whenever a vehicle is found speeding, traffic police present at the next plaza issue challans to violators.However, K C Jain, secretary of Agra Development Foundation (ADF), a city-based social organization, does not agree with the concessionaire on this point.“Every day around 15,000-20,000 travel through the expressway, and not less than 50% of them violate the speed limits. There is no fear of law as very little action is taken by traffic police of Gautam Budh Nagar, Mathura and Agra. Most vehicles drive at a speed of 150-160 kmph on the expressway, but police as well as YEIDA are not taking any punitive action,” Jain told TOI.Citing earlier replies to RTI queries, Jain said that in comparison to more than 62.7 lakh vehicles which passed through the Jewar toll plaza in 2015, challans for speeding were issued to just 8,156 vehicles.In 2017, Gautam Budh Nagar police issued challans to 10,603 violators between January and June at Jewar toll plaza. In comparison, Mathura police issued challans to 532 violators while Agra police claimed that they recovered Rs 4.38 lakh in fines from 760 vehicles.Agra police said the concessionaire did not provide data in the past and they have started doing this only from June 30 this year. Between June 30 and July 15, Agra police said they had issued e-challans to 453 vehicles. Officials added that the traffic wing recovered Rs 12.47 lakh in fines from 2,320 vehicles in 2016.As many as 30 speed cameras, 25 video incident detection cameras and 19 CCTV cameras are installed on the expressway.Jain demanded that in case drivers are found speeding, they should not be allowed to cross the next toll plaza without being issued a challan. He also demanded appointment of a nodal officer to deal with traffic violations on the expressway, besides publication of an annual report on the cause of accidents on the stretch.Till June this year, 78 people have died in road accidents on the expressway. In five-and-half years since its opening, the expressway has seen deaths of 626 people in 4,505 accidents with 2016 reporting the highest number of accidents in a year.