Over one lakh vehicles running without HSRP

With over a lakh of new vehicles still not registered with High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) in Telangana State and the issue of vehicle registrations from AP to TS still hanging, the transport department is considering affixation at the automotive dealers

There are 1,10,073 new vehicles plying across the Telangana State with temporary registration and the chances of vehicle owners getting the HSRP seem bleak. The reasons are two: a) Long distance of RTA offices in the case of districts and the lack of space and time in Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad.

In Hyderabad, the list of pending affixations is growing by the day. In the central zone of Hyderabad 12,845 HSRPs are pending and 14,805 in RTA Ranga Reddy. Representatives of Link Autotech Pvt Ltd, the contractors say that the lack of space and limited time (affixations are allowed only between 2-5 pm) are the reasons for people not getting the HSRPs fixed.

There is a proposal pending with the government about fixing the HSRP at the automotive dealers itself and of assigning a few dealers as authorised centres. Sridhar of Link Autotech Pvt Ltd says, “If online collection as well as slot system allotment as is being followed similar to how passport applications are done, it would solve a lot of problems. Also our proposal of registration as well as HSRP fee collection at the dealer level would eliminate inordinate delays at the RTA offices and save much needed time.”

In 2013, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued an order to all the Principal Secretary (Transport) and Commissioner (Transport) of all states and UTs to ensure that automobile dealers shall fix the HSRP and not doing so would be termed as a violation. In Delhi, Bihar and Haryana the HSRP is being fixed at the dealer level.

One of the reasons for new vehicle owners not going for affixing HSRP is the long distance of RTA offices in the districts. Ramalingam, a resident of Warangal says, “My cousin who stays 151 kms away in Thadwai village is not too keen to get the HSRP fixed. It is more than a month since he bought a two-wheeler. He would have to spend quite a sum to come all the way and also his whole day would be wasted.”

Likewise there are several people in the districts who are either not interested or affix duplicate ones. Sridhar says by doing so the whole purpose of HSRP is lost as it was intended to stop misdoings.”

Some of the villages in districts are more than 50 to 100 kms away from the RTA and unit offices. For instance, Narsimhulapet in Mahabubabad is 59 kms away. Devaruppala village is 58 kms from the Gangoan office. Damarigidda is 80 kms away from the RTA office in Mahbubnagar; Balmoor is 70 kms away from Kalwakurthy centre in Mahbubnagar. Gundala village is 124 kms from Khammam RTO office. Chandampet is 125 kms from Miryalguda.

By:TP Venu