RTA vehicle test to go high-tech

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Regional Transport Authority is awaiting the last installment of funds from the Central government for starting the state-of-the-art advanced vehicle inspection and testing centre at Chautuppal in Yadadari Bhongir district.

According to the department officials, this would be one-of-its-kind facility where vehicle fitness could be done without human involvement. The project started with the financial assistance of Rs 14.4 crore by the Union government is waiting for the final installment as 90 per cent of the works are said to be finished.

With an aim to have accurate check of vehicles and to ensure that vehicles meet the prescribed safety and emission standards apart from curbing corruption by making it totally mechanised, the Centre allocated ‘computerised inspection and certification centre’.

The officials said this would be foolproof as entire process would be mechanised and the results would be accurate. The new facility is coming up in a 10-acre land at Malkapuram in Chautuppal mandal. The unit would test everything right from thickness of tyres to steering, break, wheel alignment, wheel balancing, glass alignment and pollution check, said a senior official in the department.

Each vehicle would take 20 to 25 minutes to get the tests done and the system can test 300-odd vehicles per day. Necessary machinery is being imported from Spain and Sweden and soon it would be fixed.

As per the rule, every transport vehicle should come for fitness test once in a year. School buses should come for fitness test twice a year during the month of May, which is before the schools reopen and during December. Presently, the vehicles are tested manually by RTA officials.

The official said the project would be executed in Telangana by Automobile Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune. After one year of operation by the executing agency, the Inspection and Certification Centre would be handed over to the State. The official said the Centre was expected to release the remaining installment of Rs 3.5 crore this quarter.

Joint Transport Commissioner C Ramesh told The Hans India that almost 90 per cent of the work had been completed and the facility would be in place once the remaining work got completed. He said transport vehicles would have to pass all tests in the new system to get fitness certificate. 

To begin with, goods vehicles and passenger vehicles would be asked to take the test at Chautuppal and later it would be implemented for all yellow plate vehicles. This would ensure prompt checking of the vehicle and also reduce accidents because of the negligence of owners in maintaining vehicle, he said.

By K Chandrasekhar