The Odisha State Transport Authority (STA) has issued challans against 2674 vehicles in the last 11 days for not having High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) and colour-coded stickers.
According to a notification issued by the STA, the challans were issued between 1 February and 11 February 2023.
“The challans are being issued in accordance with the last date given for various series of vehicles,” the notification read.
It is worthwhile to mention here that, the State Transport department has made affixation of HSRP mandatory since 1 June 2022 for all class of old vehicles which are registered prior to 1 April 2019.
The action from the STA came after the deadline for affixation of HSRP on the old vehicles registered prior to 1 April 2019 carrying Odisha Registration Mark and Registration Number ending with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 ended on 31 December 2022.
The deadline for vehicles number ending with 7 and 8 ended on 31 January 2023 and for the vehicles registration number ending with 9 and 0, the last date for affixation of HSRP is 28 February 2023.
"As on 13.02.23, a total of 38,49,498 vehicle owners have booked slot, out of which HSRP has been affixed in 31,65,850 vehicles. In case the vehicle is not affixed with HSRP within the scheduled date, e-challan shall be issued against the offending vehicle and attract fine of Rs. 5000/- or Rs.10,000/- under Section 192 of M.V. Act, 1988 as the case may be,” the notification read.
"Amongst the challans issued so far, the majority of the vehicles are two-wheelers. A penalty of Rs. 5000 has been imposed on the violators. In future, stricter actions will be taken against the violators," Additional Commissioner Transport, Enforcement LM Sethi said.
(Reported by Kapilendra Pradhan, OTV)