Traffic challans are issued by the Traffic Departments of all states in the country to motorists and automobile drivers when they violate or disobey traffic rules. Once challans are raised it is mandatory that the motorist or the automobile driver pays the amount mentioned in the challan. It is legally compulsory to pay the penalty and if you fail to do so in the provided time period, than you will invite wrath of traffic officials and the legal system of the place.
Before the digital medium evolved, the traffic challan was a piece of official paper and all details were written manually by the traffic police person. Today the paper challan system has been replace almost everywhere by the digital e-challan. There are two upfront advantage of the e-challan system:-
- It facilitates easy and fast payment that violators can use on the spot or later to pay for the amount on the issued challan.
- The other thing is that all challans are recorded on the traffic system. Thereby reducing all chances of paying and accepting of bribes as there is absolutely zero involvement of cash in the e-challan system until and unless you go to the court or the police station to make the traffic challan payment.
Paying Traffic Challans Using Digital Methods Online
Traffic challans can be easily paid online. You can either use the official website of the transport department of your state or download the app of a payment aggregator like that of Paytm, MobiKwik and PhonePe. Online payments can be done using the following:-
- Credit cards – considered as one of the safest modes of online payment, you need to generally keep your card handy so that you are able to furnish details pertaining to the credit card number, the expiry date and the CVV.
- Debit cards – similar to the credit cards, here too you need to enter the card number, expiry date and CVV number. Of the two, credit cards are more recommended by experts for these are not directly linked to your account unlike the debit cards.
- Netbanking – you can use this method of bank transfer that enables the transfer of money from one account to another within minutes. It is safe as long as there are higher levels of security features – for example, two-way authentication and One Time Password or the OTP
- Electronic wallet – many payment aggregators today and even some service providers have their own e-wallets that can be used in the online medium for making payments by registered customers. Some e-wallets are also enabled for use in the offline medium. The best thing is that like your physical wallets you can store as much money as you want in this and use the money to then pay for purchases online or offline while unlike your physical wallet, the chances of losing money from the e-wallet is minimal. Also, since they are not directly linked to your bank account, they are considered to be much safer. The aspect that some of the e-wallets can be used in the offline mode too makes them quite handy.