The Maharashtra Government is contemplating the possibility of booking traffic offenders based on complaints made by citizens through e-mails and pictures of violators taken on mobile phones.

Minister of State for Home Satej Patil on Wednesday said he has directed Thane Police Commissioner K P Raghuvanshi to explore the possibility of booking traffic rule violators based on e-mail complaints and pictures taken on cellphones.

Based on the response in Thane, the scheme will be implemented through out the state, he said.

Earlier, Patil addressed a function at the Thane College organised as part of the Road Safety fortnight.

Talking to reporters after the event, Patil said he had come across such a movement undertaken by a prominent Marathi daily in Kolhapur where it received good response.

"We received a number of pictures of traffic offenders. I thought why not try this state-wide and hence this direction to the Thane police chief."

Elaborating, the Minister said anyone, who sees a person violating traffic regulations, can take his/her picture on the mobile phone and forward it to the police department which will take necessary action against the offender.

Even though this is not provided under the law, the project will be initiated as a policing measure, he said.

While tariff management was the role of police, providing the necessary infrastructure was the responsibility of civic bodies, the Minister said.

Hence, it has been made compulsory for the urban civic bodies to set aside 10 per cent of their budget for providing infrastructures like signages, markings on roads, traffic lights and signals, Patil said.

It was high time the younger generation inculcated traffic discipline and adhered to road safety norms, he said.

Our period is over and now now you are required to strictly.

Maharashtra sees a whopping 71,000 cases of road accidents every year of which 12,000 result in deaths. This was a great loss to the State and society which we cannot afford, Patil said.