MUMBAI, Nov. 20 -- A vital digital tool used by citizens to enforce traffic rules in a city where traffic chaos is increasingly becoming a feature of daily life, appears to have been revoked. Months after the option to log a 'Civilian Report' went "under maintenance" on the Mumbai Traffic Police App, citizens have found that the option altogether vanished a few days ago. Another software application with the same provision, the MahaTrafficApp of the Maharashtra Traffic Police, continues to be "under maintenance". Voicing a complaint of hundreds of others, an anonymous poster on X, "Public Pulse", said, "Towards the end of August, the option of logging a civilian report of a traffic violation pulled up an error saying the functionality 'is temporarily disabled due to ongoing updates and maintenance'. But when I checked on Wednesday, the option had been removed. So, law-breaking vehicles stay, and citizen voices go silent." The Civilian Report option was used by Mumbaiites largely to flag vehicles parked on footpaths or in no-parking zones. "To report a violation, we would have to upload a photo of the vehicle in question, and add the vehicle details and a description of the violation," said Siddhesh Pangam, a Bandra resident, who logged at least two complaints a week since 2023. Other violations that could be flagged were no helmets, driving on the wrong side, triple seat on two-wheelers, etc. Citizens would then receive an update on action taken on their complaints. "In over a year, I have filed over 200 complaints, largely in Sion, and over 90% would get converted into challans," said "Public Pulse", who works as a consultant in the water and sanitation sector. "Photographs taken through the app are geotagged and time-stamped, which makes them difficult to fake. The traffic police would check if the location corresponded with their map of no-parking zones, and then issue a challan to a vehicle in a no-parking zone," he said. The complainant would then be notified if their complaint had resulted in a challan or rejected. This would usually be communicated within a week. A complaint registered on the MumTrafficApp would reflect on the MahaTrafficApp, and vice versa, indicating a shared database. Not everyone reported such a high success rate but they were still satisfied with the results. Ajinkya Parulekar, another user, said his complaints would check out 60-70% of the time, while Pangam reported a 50% strike rate. Without the app's Civilian Report feature, citizens can complain through the social media site X or via email. But these methods are less effective due to the lack of geotagged photos. On October 26, Pangam filed a Right to Information (RTI) application with the state home department, enquiring about the MahaTrafficApp. He also asked whether there was an expected date of restoration, "I have not received a response yet," he said. Meanwhile, an official with the Mumbai Traffic Police told HT the "error was a glitch", while joint commissioner of police (traffic), Anil Kumbhare, said he would look into the matter....