AGRA: Since August, 2012, when the Yamuna Expressway was opened for traffic, over 2.3 crore vehicles were detected breaking the speed limit till December 31, 2017, but only 17,883 were issued challans by traffic police in four UP districts of Agra, Aligarh, Mathura and Gautam Budh Nagar . Only 164 drivers have been challaned for rash driving over this period. During the same period, 7.65 crore drivers used the expressway.The fact was revealed in a reply by Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority to an RTI query by Agra-based NGO Agra Development Foundation (ADF) and a self-sworn affidavit filed by assistant prosecution officer Rajesh Kumar of state transport department against a PIL filed by ADF in January this year at Allahabad high court.The highest number of cases of speeding vehicles was reported from Gautam Budh Nagar police jurisdiction (1.07 crore) followed by Mathura (70.1 lakh) and Agra (53.3 lakh).According to the data, the expressway reported 4,848 accidents and 626 fatalities between August 2012 and December 2017.Further, the data revealed that out of the total challans for speeding between 2012 and 2017, 97% were issued by Gautam Budh Nagar police (17,373), followed by 275 by Mathura police and 235 by Agra police.Speaking to TOI, chairperson of ADF, lawyer K C Jain said, “Years have passed but no concrete action plan has been developed by the authorities concerned to make the expressway safe for commuters. The data shows the callous attitude of the expressway authorities and police.”Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior official of the private concessionaire who operates the expressway said, “Our job is to facilitate commuters and provide data of traffic violations to the police. It is the job of police and transport officials to take action, which they haven’t although we have repeatedly provided this data to them.”A senior Uttar Pradesh police officer said, “It is hard to control traffic violators and challan them for speeding on a regular basis on highways and expressways. There is a shortage of men, as the district police deploy most of their personnel for crime control. There is a need for a separate police wing to monitor highways and expressways. To curb the menace of speeding, we are going to introduce radar guns, so that policemen can themselves detected speeding vehicles and challan them.”Uttar Pradesh traffic police additional director-general Monmohan Bashal said, “We will conduct a review meeting with the four district police units as well as with private concessionaire and find a solution to restrict speeding of vehicles.”

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