Bengaluru: After the state govt announced a 50% rebate on pending traffic penalties on Aug 23, around 14 lakh violations were cleared till Friday, with Rs 39 crore collected in fines. Interestingly, among the many vehicles that got off the hook after clearing the traffic violations logged against them was an SUV — the official vehicle of chief minister Siddaramaiah.On Sept 3, a netizen had posted on X a picture of the CM’s Toyota Fortuner (KA-05-GA-2023) with details of seven pending traffic cases against it, ranging from not wearing seatbelt to speeding. However, all details of the violations were deleted from the city traffic police’s website by Friday, indicating that the pending penalty amount of Rs 1,125 had been cleared. The violations were recorded and flagged through Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) cameras fitted at different traffic junctions across the city. The first violation was registered on Jan 24, 2024, at Leela Palace junction on Old Airport Road at 12.19pm. The fine amount was Rs 250 for not fastening seatbelt. At the same location, two more violations were booked for a similar offence, one each in Feb and Aug of 2024. The remaining three violations for not fastening seatbelt were reported at Chandrika Hotel junction (March 2024), Dr Rajkumar statue junction, and Shivananda Circle (Aug 2024). In addition, one speeding violation was registered in July this year. According to the details mentioned in the challan, the speeding case was recorded on an elevated expressway when the SUV was heading towards the city from KIA at 11.11am on July 9.
