Lorry Owners Plea to CM Against Bank Auto Debit of Challans

Hyderabad:The Telangana Lorry Owners Association on Wednesday urged Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to withdraw the proposal to link bank accounts with vehicle registration, under which traffic challan amounts would be directly debited from account holders.

The appeal comes in response to a proposal mentioned by the Chief Minister during a road safety event held on Monday. The association, representing lorry owners, drivers, transport workers and lakhs of families dependent on the road transport sector across the state, cautioned that the move could have serious financial and social consequences.

Speaking on the issue, Telangana Lorry Owners Association State president Manchireddy Rajender Reddy said the association welcomed and appreciated the state government’s sincere efforts to reduce road accidents and promote road safety, and had extended full cooperation to awareness programmes conducted during Road Safety Month.

However, he said the proposal to directly deduct challan amounts from bank accounts would create severe financial, social and humanitarian problems, particularly for self-employed workers and small business families.

Association members said the road transport sector accounts for a significant share of the state’s workforce, with lakhs of families depending on autos, cabs, lorries, buses, vegetable vending and small transport-based businesses for survival. Many already face loan rejections due to low or damaged CIBIL scores.

They warned that sudden automatic debits for traffic challans, often issued for minor violations such as marginal overspeeding, lane deviations, parking constraints due to lack of designated spaces, or camera-based challans, could lead to cheque bounces, damaged credit scores and loss of livelihoods.