Madurai police identify 1,780 vehicles with number plate violations

Madurai: Madurai city police have identified 1,783 vehicles with defective or non-compliant registration number plates during a three-day enforcement and awareness drive. They had given owners until 5pm on June 18 to rectify the defects before cases are registered.Police said defective or missing number plates make it difficult to identify vehicles involved in crimes and traffic violations. The drive, conducted between June 15 and 17 at 10 major junctions across the city, covered two-wheelers, three-wheelers and four-wheelers.During inspections, officials found 1,425 two-wheelers, 108 three-wheelers and 250 four-wheelers operating with defective number plates.

Of the total, 560 vehicle owners corrected the defects during the campaign itself.Police also intercepted 50 two-wheelers that were being operated without registration number plates. The vehicles were allowed to leave only after owners fitted proper number plates, officials said.Authorities said motorists who failed to rectify the defects by the deadline were slapped with traffic cases. From next week, traffic personnel will photograph offending vehicles and initiate action against violators.

Police also conducted awareness campaigns on traffic signal compliance, urging motorists not to cross stop lines or occupy zebra crossings at junctions.They set up facilitation centres at Kalavasal Junction, Goripalayam Junction and Kattabomman Statue Junction near Periyar bus stand to recover pending traffic fines. Between June 15 and 17, the centres collected ₹2.74 lakh in unpaid penalties from motorists.Police said the special centres would continue to function and urged vehicle owners to clear pending dues.