In a bid to bring efficiency in its work and reduce the risk of transmission of Covid-19 pandemic, Metropolitan Traffic Police Division on Monday announced it has shifted all its paperwork into digital format.

The move comes after 342 traffic police have been infected with the virus, of which 306 have already recovered, according to Superintendent of Police Rameshwor Yadav, spokesperson at the division.

“In the past, we had adopted a few online work procedures but now we are working to go full-fledged digital in giving our services to the public,” said SSP Bhim Prasad Dhakal, who is also the chief of the division. “This is for the safety of both the public and our staff. With digital facilities, service seekers need not queue in these difficult times.”

The division office has announced plans to make closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance more extensive to catch traffic rules violators. The division’s report shows that 11,000 traffic rules violators were booked in the past one year with the help of 800 CCTV cameras installed at various places of the Valley.

“We will make CCTV surveillance more effective in the coming days,” said Dhakal. Yadav said the division office has already deployed half a dozen officials at the Department of Transport Management office to get information on traffic rules violators caught on CCTV cameras.

“Now, they will have to pay their fine online,” he said.

The division office will also be installing new traffic lights and repairing old ones across the Valley roads. At present, traffic lights have been installed in 25 places; 19 were installed by the Department of Roads and the remaining six by local bodies.

Over 90 percent of the existing traffic lights in the Valley had fallen into disrepair for over a decade, which had contributed to unnecessary congestion on roads, particularly during rush hours.

Dhakal said with more traffic lights being installed and repaired in the Valley, sixty percent of the traffic policemen need not work at the place where they were assigned earlier.

“We used to deploy six officials in one junction in a day, now only two are enough. With new lights installed, we have deployed our officials to newly formed settlements where the traffic load is increasing,” said Dhakal.

He said after the traffic lights in New Baneshwor were repaired this year, traffic police who used to work there have now been transferred to the UN Park area in Lalitpur. Similarly those who used to work in Jadibuti have been transferred to Kandaghari and Town planning areas. Every day, the division deploys around 1,500 traffic police throughout the Valley to manage the traffic flow.

The division has also made a new announcement for whose motorbikes are lost can also give applications online. “We will search for the bikes based on their information, and we will let them know about their lost vehicle’s information through email,” said Dhakal.

From last week, the division office had started accepting online applications to get recommendation letters for lost blue books and licences. Spokesperson at the division Yadav said every day 350 people have been applying for the services in the Kathmandu Valley.

The division has also announced plans to make the Traffic Communication App more effective. The app checks if drivers are being changed during the course of a long-haul bus journey so as to ensure the vehicles are being driven by alert drivers. The app was installed last year in February Yadav said. In the past one year, 600 such drivers have been found to have violated rules via the app.