The Government of India has passed a new regulation that makes it necessary for all cars and motorcycles to undergo a yearly fitness test to assess whether they are fit to ply on roads. The vehicles that do not pass this evaluation and are not awarded the mandatory certificate mentioning their road-worthiness will be fined. In severe cases, the vehicles may not be allowed to drive and will be sent to junk yard to be scrapped.
This bill has been passed by the national government in order to bring down the number of old and ageing personal vehicles that are causing excessive pollution and abruptly coming to a halt due to poor maintenance, resulting in traffic jams. The apex judiciary body of the country, the Supreme Court of India, has assigned the responsibility of conducting the tests on the concerned vehicles to Environment Pollution – Prevention and Control Authority (EPCA).
Bhure Lal, the chairman of EPCA participated in many discussions with concerned officials to ensure that vehicles that were bought three years ago or earlier were subjected to this annual test, just like the UK, Brazil, France and Singapore. Presently, more than 7 lac cars ply on the streets of Delhi and the figure is rising by 1,300 units per day.
As of now, the Registration Certificate (RC) of the car, which is valid for up to 15 years, was enough to prove the road-worthiness of a vehicle in India. Now, vehicle owners should get ready to get their cars inspected by an authorised mechanic every year to assess the same. Therefore, vehicle owners who took as much as 15 years to get their vehicles officially tested will have to get their cars or bikes tuned regularly. Industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has also supported this initiative. SIAM and Federation of Automobiles Dealers Association (FADA) will work with the Indian government to ensure that this project is carried out smoothly, as the transport department of Delhi is already busy conducting tests on trucks, taxis and tempos.
An official working for the transport department stated, “There is hardly any mechanism to check the maintenance system of vehicles. During re-registration, officials issue certificates by merely looking at the cars. Subjective and visual inspection does not provide any input about the car's steering column, brakes, suspension, joints, noise level, headlamp position and emission level.”
Lal also commented, “It is a general trend to run vehicles without proper maintenance. There is no fitness regime for private cars and you will find 30-year-old vehicles on the roads. This leads to accidents, casualties and, to say the least, pollution.”
