Chandigarh, July 18 -- For two weeks, traffic violators in Chandigarh had a free run as the integrated command and control centre (ICCC) cameras stopped issuing challans from June 25 to July 10 due to a payment issue between the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the company operating the system. Sources revealed that the MC owes BEL a whopping Rs.20 crore. The city has over 2,000 cameras, including those monitoring traffic violations, city's entry-exit points, schools, hospitals, parking lots, and community centres, connected to the ICCC. On an average, the ICCC cameras record and issue around 1,800 challans a day for speeding, red-light jumping, and other violations. The non-functional challan system created a backlog of nearly 25,000 pending traffic fines, which are now being uploaded on the National Informatics Centre (NIC) platform in bulk. "The cameras were operational and recorded violations during this period, but no automated challans were generated due to the suspension of services. Now, these pending challans are being uploaded together," confirmed an official familiar with the matter. There is a 15-day limit to issue challans by uploading the data on NIC based on recorded footage. Any violation recorded after this period cannot be legally challaned. In the last 15 days, no challans have been issued, leading to thousands of violations going unchecked. Under Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL), BEL was awarded a contract to operate ICCC services, including cameras and their software. BEL was to receive Rs.1 crore every month for operations and maintenance. However, after the administration dissolved CSCL on March 31, its projects were redistributed among various departments, with ICCC being handed over to the MC. The corporation is yet to clear BEL's dues for the past 12 months, amounting to Rs.12 crore in operational payments, Rs.7 crore as capital expenditure for material installation, and an additional Rs.60 lakh for police station camera surveillance. As a result, BEL had stopped its services from June 25, effectively suspending ICCC's software and shutting down access to the app, which powers the Police Command Control Centre (PCCC). The ICCC project is slated to run until 2027. The MC is currently verifying bills submitted by the company before them....