Hightech number plates to be delayed due to poor infra
LOSING MOMENTUM Delhi govt says it would issue highsecurity registration plates and stickers only in phases NEW REGULATIONS FOR VEHICLES IN THE CITY
NEW DELHI: Delhiites need not panic and rush to buy high-security registration plates (HSRPS) and hologram-based coloured stickers for their four wheelers as the Delhi government is yet to set up the required infrastructure for manufacturing these items. This means there is going to be a delay of at least three months in the implementation of issuing HSRPS and the stickers based on type of fuel for four wheelers.
The Delhi government said it would issue the stickers and HSRPS only in phases owing to inadequate infrastructure. The national capital has more than 10 million registered vehicles.
“The ministry of road transport and highways (MORTH) said they are going to link the hologram-based coloured stickers with HSRPS. But, states are facing a lot of challenges in implementing it now. In Delhi, there is only one vendor that manufactures such stickers and number plates and that vendor too has gone into some legal trouble,” said Sunita Narain, member of the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA).
As per an order dated October 1 by MORTH, those buying petrol and Cng-run vehicles will use light blue stickers, while an orange sticker would be placed on diesel vehicles. For all other vehicles such as hybrid variants, it created a third category that would need to have a ‘grey’ coloured hologram sticker. All these would be self-destructive stickers, meaning it would be spoilt if one tries to remove it.
“Stickers will be issued only to newly registered vehicles for about six months and then will be expanded to old vehicles. The same is being followed for HSRPS, until a new vendor is awarded work,” a transport official said, adding that one sticker would cost ₹12.
The purpose of issuing HSRPS for all types of vehicles is to bring about a uniform pattern of displaying registration marks across the country. These number plates are highly secure and come with a seven digit unique laser code. Hologram stickers are being introduced to curb pollution. Basically, it is aimed at segregating polluting vehicles, which are often diesel vehicles and old petrol ones.
Data with the transport department states that there are at least 25 lakh vehicles plying on city roads without the high security number plate. Besides, every new car purchased is supposed to be issued only an HSRP.
The problem, however, is that the lone vendor of HSRPS in the city has the infrastructure to manufacture only about 1,200 such number plates on a single day. This is even lesser than the average of 1,500 vehicles that are freshly registered with the transport department every day.
The same problem is being faced by the department for issuing the hologram-based coloured stickers for four wheelers. “Issuing these stickers to new cars began from October 3 and until now almost 1,000 stickers have been issued. It is pertinent to note that the period of shradhha, during which car sales nosedive because it is ‘inauspicious’, ended only on October 8. So, the vendor managed to meet the demand. The real challenge will be now from the Navratra as sales pick up,” said the transport official.
The department said tender for appointing a new vendor for HSRPS will be floated this week, even as it had done the same exercise in February, which failed. It is also facing delays in making the system online under which one can book an appointment with a dealer online to get an HSRP. .