The fear of hefty fines under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019 is fast driving Ranchiites to transport offices, insurance companies and pollution-testing agencies. If agents working for private insurance companies are to be believed, rush for vehicle insurance has nearly doubled since implementation of amended rules. The scene at petrol pumps that offer pollution-testing facility is no different.
Akshat Fuel Station in the State capital’s Kokar locality on Saturday received 70 applications for pollution check in less than an hour since it opened its counter in the morning, staff working at the petrol pump said.
The rush at the aforementioned facility increased as the day progressed. “I submitted my form at 7am today and eventually got my pollution certificate at 10am. The process hardly takes five to seven minutes, but the long queue is causing delay,” said Supriyo Dey, a bank employee who forgot to get his two-wheeler’s pollution certificate renewed for nearly two years.
JK Gupta, an Assistant Manager at a private insurance firm in Ranchi’s Ashok Nagar locality, said that the number of applications for insurance renewal of two wheelers has doubled in the past couple of days. “The number of applications for four wheelers has only witnessed a minor increase, but we are receiving twice as many applications for two wheelers as we received in a day,” he said. He added that his firm usually renewed insurance of 100 to 150 vehicles in a day and the count crossed 300 during the past couple of days.
With the implementation of the amended law for motor vehicles the rush at District Transport Office has also witnessed a major surge. Sources from the Ranchi DTO’s office said that at least 10,000 people applied for learner’s driving licence and renewal of existing licence in the past 48 hours. However, District Transport Officer Sanjiv Kumar did not provide an official figure on the number of licence applicants. “The rush has certainly increased after the implementation of the new law. It is, however, difficult to state the exact figures at present,” he said.
Traffic police in Ranchi have swung into action soon after the new laws were imposed on September 1. Police here have slapped fines to the tunes of several lakhs through regular checks in different points across the city. Even police officials have not been spared. A traffic constable was slapped a fine of Rs 34,000 on Friday for not wearing helmet. Besides, Transport Commissioner Pravin Kumar Toppo has directed all the DTOs and concerned police personnel to double the penalty for Government officials.
