Odisha STA issues over 2600 challans for HSRP violations

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha State Transport Authority (STA) has issued challans for 2,674 vehicles in the last 11 days which do not have high security registration plates (HSRP) and colour-coded stickers, an official said on Wednesday.

The challans were issued from February 1 to 11 in accordance with the last date given for various series of vehicles.

Additional Commissioner Transport (Enforcement), LM Sethi said that on February 13, a total of 38,49,498 vehicle owners have booked slots, out of which HSRP has been affixed in 31,65,850 vehicles.

"In case a vehicle is not affixed with HSRP within the scheduled date, e-challans with a fine of Rs 5,000 or Rs 10,000 are being issued against the offending vehicle under the Section 192 of M.V. Act, 1988," Sethi said.

He said, "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 action will be taken against the violators."

Urging vehicle owners to get the HSRP affixed to their vehicles without delay, the STA official said the vehicle owners who do not have access to the internet or do not have knowledge of technology can apply for HSRP through nearby Mo Seva Kendra or HSRP facilitation centres at RTO as per their convenience.

In accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), State Transport department has made affixation of HSRPs mandatory since June 1, 2022 for all class of old vehicles which were registered prior to April 2019.

According to a government notification, the deadline for affixation of HSRP on the old vehicles registered prior to April 1, 2019 carrying Odisha registration mark and registration number ending with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 ended on December 31, 2022.

Similarly, the deadline for Odisha registered vehicles carrying registration number ending with 7 and 8 ended on January 31, 2023 and for the vehicles carrying registration number ending with 9 and 0, the last date for affixation of HSRP is February 28, 2023.