The government is set to tackle the growing number of old and unfit vehicles by opening more automated centres to issue fitness certificates.
As per the data from the transport department, the State had 34.85 lakh vehicles in March 2017, which crossed 62.66 lakh in March 2020. During this period, Bengaluru saw the number of old vehicles more than double from 8.97 lakh in 2017 to 21.96 lakh in 2020.
Among the vehicles that are older than 15 years in the State, 40 lakh vehicles are two-wheelers and 11 lakh are cars. There are more than 8.63 lakh transport vehicles including trucks, buses, autos and other vehicles. In Bengaluru city, in the same category, there are over 12.52 lakh two-wheelers, 5.33 lakh cars and more than 1.32 lakh transport vehicles.
To keep a check on this, the transport department is planning to open more automated vehicle inspection and certification centres not just in Bengaluru but across Karnataka. The move is aimed at avoiding manual intervention while giving fitness certificates for the vehicles which will also weed out older vehicles not fit to ply on roads.
“The fully equipped centre at Nelamangala had stopped operations after two years. In the past, we received only single bidding for tenders floated to select the agency to run it. We are now in the process of making the centre functional. Two more centres will be opened in Mysuru and Dharwad in the coming days,” said Transport Commissioner N. Shivakumar. The process of installing machines at these two centres has been completed.
The department is also contemplating to open similar automated centres in Belagavi and Vijayapura as well.
A transport department official said these measures are in keeping with the Centre’s plan to phase out old and unfit vehicles. “The Central Government, in its budget, had announced that it will introduce a policy aimed at reducing vehicular pollution by phasing out unfit vehicles. We are waiting for the policy to come out. As per the existing rules, older vehicles are allowed to ply on the roads only after getting fitness certificates, but there is a need to introduce more automated centres that conduct various tests accurately.”
In the Budget, the Centre had announced that vehicles would undergo fitness tests in automated fitness centres after 20 years in case of personal vehicles, and after 15 years in case of commercial vehicles.
Green tax
The department collects a green tax from non-transport vehicles that are more than 15 years old and transport vehicles which are more than seven years old.
When asked about utilization of Green Tax, the commissioner said, “We are coming out with proposals to use the green tax mainly for environmental issues and creating awareness. As per the NGT order, Central and State pollution control boards get 25% each of the amount collected under the green tax, and the remaining 50% comes to the transport department. In the last three years a total of ₹50 crore was collected under this tax.”
