Vijayawada: 66 BS-3 trucks registered as BS-4, says Transport department Joint commissioner S A V Prasada Rao

Vijayawada: Joint commissioner of transport department S A V Prasada Rao said the department had noticed that 66 trucks with BS 3 standards were registered as BS 4 standard with fake documents in Nagaland and made it clear stringent action would be taken against the culprits for registering the outdated vehicles with fake documents.

He said some persons and companies in Anantapur district had resorted to such activities and they would be booked under the Motor Vehicles Act and Indian Penal Code.

Speaking to media at state transport commissioner's office on Thursday, the joint commissioner said that 23 vehicles, which were registered with fake documents seized and efforts were on to find out the remaining vehicles.

He said as per the Supreme Court orders the registration of BS 3 standard vehicle was stopped by March 31, 2017. "Some persons had purchased BS 3 standard trucks from Ashok Leyland company in Chennai and Uttarakhand and registered them in Kohima, Nagaland, as BS 4 vehicles using fake documents. Transport department has identified some persons and registered four cases. Two vehicles were registered in the name of C Gopal Reddy and Company and four were registered in the name of Jathadhara company in Anantapur," Prasada Rao said.

He further said more than 50 vehicles were insured with fake documents. The transport department had discussed the issue with the insurance companies and the efforts were on to get full details of the insurance. He said the insurance companies would register criminal cases against the accused for producing fake documents for the insurance.

Stating that three trucks were changed into buses, he said it was very dangerous because the chasis of buses and trucks are different.

The joint commissioner said the transport department set up a Task Force team and sent it to Nagaland to verify the registrations of BS 3 Ashok Leyland vehicles purchased in Chennai and Uttarakhand in 2017.

Those persons who registered the vehicles gave temporary address in Kohima in Nagaland and permanent address in Anantapur district. He pointed out that producing fake documents to register the outdated vehicles as BS 4 and producing NOC to resell them.

Prasada Rao said as per the norms of transport department, the outdated vehicles are considered as scrap and they should not be registered at all. He said the suspects had purchased the scrap vehicles at low cost and could have sold them at very high price after registration in Nagaland as BS 4. He said there is some information that 88 such other vehicles were also registered and the efforts were on to trace them. Additional commissioner P Srinivas also spoke on the occasion.