Now, automobile dealers to affix tamper-proof HSRPs in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: Vehicle owners need not wait for months as they will soon get their tamper-proof High Security Registration Plates (HSRPs) on the same day of purchase of their vehicle.

In a major step to reduce the turnaround time and minimise the delay taken in fixing the HSRP for the new vehicles, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has come up with the initiative of one-stop-point wherein the registration as well as the fixation of HSRP can be done at the automobile showroom or dealer itself within a day.

Apart from making the online registration (both temporary as well as permanent) process a hassle-free exercise, MoRTH also aims at fixing the HSRP at the dealer's showroom within 24 hours of the purchase of vehicle.

Currently, vehicle owners have to wait for a week to 45 days to get the HSRP fixed at the Link Auto Agency in Visakhapatnam district after the generation of permanent registration (PR) number at the retail showroom. During the waiting period, some vehicle owners end up paying penalty when the police check for number plate. This problem is soon going to be resolved.

Transport authorities have already instructed the automobile dealers to set up HSRP units at the premises. Once the infrastructure for HSRP printing unit is readied at automobile showrooms, vehicle owners can get both registration and HSRP done at the same place.

However, the vehicle owner will continue to pay Rs.619 for the HSRP. "The new policy is beneficial to vehicle owners in multiple ways. One, they need not make repeated trips to get their number plates done. Two, it reduces the time taken for the process. This apart, it also means reducing the burden on single agency handling HSRP," Deputy Transport Commissioner G C Raja Ratnam told The Hans India.

In Visakhapatnam district, about one lakh vehicles are bought a year. Instead of a single agency dealing with the release of HSRP, the exercise will now be shared among 45 automobile showrooms spread across the district.