The rise in traffic challans this year is aimed at stricter enforcement of road safety norms and not at “penalising commuters” or “boosting revenues”, officials said on Saturday.
Addressing HT’s’ first residents’ welfare association (RWA) interaction programme, organised to bridge the gap between traffic police and residents, Gurugram assistant commissioner of police (ACP) (traffic HQ and highways) Satyapal Yadav said the 1.5 times increase in challans compared to last year was meant to improve public’s compliance with traffic rules.
“There is a misconception among the public that more challans are being issued to boost revenue. However, many commuters start following rules only after they are made aware or penalised for violations,” Yadav said, adding that enhanced camera surveillance has strengthened enforcement at critical intersections and bottlenecks.
According to traffic police data of traffic violations, around 2,052,000 challans have been issued since January till November, compared to 1,366,000 challans issued from January to December in 2024.
The ACP said several critical intersections near housing societies need upgrades in view of growing infrastructure and traffic volume. “Through a well-planned network of CCTV cameras, we are ensuring the safety of localities. Around 2,722 cameras will be installed at 258 locations over the next six months,” he said.
Referring to the Stanford design thinking model, Yadav said zonal officers have been instructed not to harass commuters and to understand their concerns to ensure smooth traffic movement. He added that postal challans through automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras have already been implemented for frictionless policing.
Yadav said a reduction in fatal accidents and deaths has been recorded between 2023–24 and 2024–25 for the same period, attributing the decline to engineering interventions and nearly 6,000 awareness programmes conducted across the district.
According to data, 417 fatal accidents occurred between January and November 2025, compared to 420 fatal accidents recorded in the whole of 2024. While 442 fatalities were reported last year, 428 people lost their lives in 2025. From January to November 2025, 14 were cyclists, 162 two-wheeler riders, 13 drivers of heavy and large goods vehicles, two e-rickshaw drivers, and 141 were pedestrians. Rest of the 85 fatalities are of those driving/travelling in either four-wheeler or were cab/auto-rickshaw drivers.
Girish Gupta, an independent traffic expert and a member of the district’s monthly road safety committee meetings, who attended the HT initiative, said two-wheeler riders and pedestrians remained the most vulnerable road users in 2025. “City infrastructure and its maintenance, especially underpasses, need urgent attention to ensure the safety of motorcycle and scooter users,” he said.