Chennai, Nov 25 (IANS) In a major push to curb corruption, eliminate manual intervention, and ease traffic bottlenecks at state border points, Tamil Nadu’s Commissionerate of Transport and Road Safety has approved the installation of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras at 22 Regional Transport Office (RTO) check posts across the state.

In addition, speed-detection cameras will be deployed at nine key locations.

According to officials, the move marks a significant step towards digitising vehicle monitoring and reducing tailbacks—particularly at heavily congested border check posts such as Bannari, Hosur, Serkadu, and Pethikuppam.

With the new system, commercial drivers and tourist vehicles will be able to pay road taxes online and pass through without exiting their vehicles.

Though online road-tax payment has been in place for some time, commercial vehicles, especially omnibuses registered in other states, have frequently encountered delays.

Several operators allege that these hold-ups, even after producing proof of online tax payment, are often linked to bribery attempts by officials at certain check posts.

The ANPR and speed detection systems will now be integrated with the Central Monitoring System at the State Transport Authority (STA) office in Guindy.

This unified digital platform will offer real-time monitoring of vehicle movement, ANPR analytics, speed-violation detection with alerts, and evidence management through video and image recordings. The platform will also be linked to the VAHAN portal for vehicle registration and the SARATHI portal for driving licence data.

Apart from verifying whether road taxes have been paid before a vehicle enters Tamil Nadu, the ANPR cameras will automatically generate challans for offences such as helmetless riding, mobile-phone usage while driving, non-use of seat belts and other violations.

Speed-detection cameras will be installed at nine points: Pethikuppam-Incoming, Poonamallee, Tiruttani, Thiruchitrambalam (Villupuram), Katpadi, Hosur-Incoming and Hosur-Outgoing (Vellore), and KG Chavadi-Incoming and Outgoing (Coimbatore).

The 22 RTO check posts handle vehicles entering from neighbouring states for temporary permits and road-tax collection. Since 2023, all categories of temporary tourist permits — including for motor cabs, maxi cabs and omnibuses — have been issued online.

Temporary permits for out-of-state goods vehicles are also processed at these locations, which together generated Rs 230.04 crore in revenue during 2024–25. The state’s decision follows recent DVAC raids, including the recovery of Rs 1.72 lakh from a Motor Vehicle Inspector at the Poonamallee check post and Rs 95,000 from the Christianpet check post, highlighting persistent corruption concerns in the sector.

–IANS

aal/vd