Gujarat:The deadline for high-security registration plates (HSRP) lapsed on August 31, after thirteen previous extensions granted by the state government, and still, there is a long list of vehicles that have not installed the plates.The HSRP was made mandatory for vehicles in 2013 after the Supreme Court passed an order nudging the RTO to start installing the plates in vehicles.

From 1996 till date, a total of 41.9 lakh vehicles have registered with the Ahmedabad Regional Transport Office (RTO). Of these, 25.7 lakh including old and newly registered vehicles have installed HSRP in Ahmedabad so far. Of the remaining 16.2 lakh, RTO claims that 13.2 lakh old ones have either been scrapped by owners or transferred to another state. This leaves 3 lakh two-wheelers, three- and four-wheelers in the city that are yet to instal the plates.

SP Muniya, regional transport officer of Ahmedabad, said, “As per the RTO data, 16.2 lakh vehicles remain to be upgraded with the high-security licence plates. But the fact is, we are counting vehicles registered since 1996, even when there are owners who have scrapped their vehicles still unregistered with the RTO here.”He added: “Of the 16.2 lakh pending vehicles, 82% are those whose owner haven’t registered with the RTO, while the remaining 3 lakh are actually those that haven’t installed the plates.”

RTO officials have started drives targeting vehicles without HSRP plates at three locations, and memos are being issued to them. As per the officials, a fine of Rs 100 is taken from two-wheeler owners, Rs 200 from four-wheelers, Rs 300 from three-wheelers and Rs 500-1,000 from heavy vehicles. For the past three days, 47 people have been nabbed by officials and a total of Rs 70,000 has been collected in fines from them.

Tejas Patel, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said, “Our men are busy with the Ganpati festival bandobast. Once the festivities get over, we will conduct a joint drive with the RTO officials to seize vehicles that do not have HSRP.”He said that memos are going to be issued to violators first, and if they still don’t comply, “we will detain the vehicles and it will be allotted to RTO for further investigation.”