50 ‘Bullet patakha’ bikes fined Rs 5L this month

Gurgaon: Cracking down on modified “Bullet patakha” motorcycles that create noise pollution on city roads, traffic police issued around 50 challans in May and imposed fines of about Rs 5 lakh.Police said the special drive targeted two-wheelers fitted with illegal, modified silencers and pressure horns that disturb commuters and pose safety concerns.“Strict action against such violations will continue in the coming days as part of efforts to improve road discipline and reduce accidents. Residents should not use illegal modifications or pressure horns, as these not only increase noise pollution but also affect road safety,” DCP (traffic) Prateek Gahlot said.Meanwhile, initiating a one-week campaign, traffic police issued 24,471 challans between May 18 and May 24. Of these, 16,068 challans were issued on the ground for violations, including wrong-side driving, riding without helmets, drunken driving, wrong parking, lane changing and mobile phone use while driving.Another 8,403 challans were issued through surveillance cameras for offences such as lane violations, no-entry breaches, overspeeding and seat belt violations. Police collected fines totalling Rs 2.31 crore through on-the-ground challans during the period.Traffic police said special monitoring was being carried out on Delhi-Gurgaon (NH-48), Dwarka Expressway and the Mumbai Expressway with the help of NHAI cameras and drone technology to check overspeeding and dangerous lane changing.As part of the awareness campaign, programmes were organised at 15 locations through the Suraksha Rath initiative, where over 453 residents and students were educated about traffic rules and emergency helplines.Police also said efforts were underway to strengthen citizen participation through the “Traffic Mitra” initiative. More than 188 residents have applied so far this year, while over 800 traffic marshals have been associated with the programme through different institutions. Training of around 39 Traffic Mitras has already been completed at the TEC (IRTE) Centre at Traffic Tower.