Karachi hotel gets e-challan for vehicle stolen 28 years ago

• Hotel management says will pay fine if stolen vehicle is recovered.
• TRACS e-ticket system launched last month for traffic monitoring.
• Critics say Karachi lacks proper facilities to support new system.
  

A five-star hotel in Karachi has received an e-challan of Rs10,000 for a vehicle that was stolen 28 years ago, leaving the management stunned.

According to the hotel management, the car was stolen from the parking area near Sharea Faisal in May 1997, and a case was registered at the Saddar Police Station at the time.

It added that despite the vehicle never being recovered, an e-challan was recently received for a seatbelt violation recorded at the Hub Toll Plaza.

The Traffic Regulation and Citation System (TRACS) was launched on October 27, aimed at replacing the outdated manual ticketing process with a fully automated e-ticketing mechanism, utilising advanced AI-integrated CCTV cameras to detect violations such as over-speeding, red light jumping, and helmet non-compliance.

But since its inauguration, the news system has sparked debate with critics pointing to the lack of adequate facilities and infrastructure in Karachi to support its implementation.

Expressing surprise over the development, the hotel management maintained that they are willing to pay the fine but only if the authorities recover and return the stolen vehicle.

In a similar incident last month, a bike owner had received an e-challan for his stolen bike, which remains unrecovered four years after it went missing. The owner claimed his vehicle was stolen from the Tipu Sultan police premises. Ironically, he received an e-ticket worth Rs5,000 on October 27 for not wearing a helmet, despite having filed a theft complaint.

Another affected citizen had told Brackly News that he received an e-challan despite never committing any traffic violation. “The number plate shown in the photo is different from the one written in text on the same challan,” he said, calling it a glaring error.