Rowdies may give right of way to road-worthies

NEW DELHI: Pollution is not the only mandatory test that Mercs, Beemers and Marutis will have to pass. The government is thinking about a statutory fitness regime for all vehicles, cars and two-wheelers, to examine their technical efficiency, failing which they would be taken off the roads.

This is in line with what happens in the UK, Germany and the US, where annual inspection of all motor vehicles is mandatory. So, the ministry of road transport and highways in India plans to test every vehicle at regular intervals.

Currently, only commercial vehicles such as taxis, buses and trucks undergo such tests, and they form 30% of the 15 crore vehicles on Indian roads. In the first phase, all private vehicles more than three years old will be checked bi-annually, and those over nine years old will be checked every year.

Scooters and motorcycles that are more than two years old will be tested once every two years, and those more than eight year old will be tested every year.

Strict financial penalty will be slapped on defaulters while those who get their vehicles tested routinely will be given discounts on their annual insurance costs.

To carry out the tests on more than 11 crore privately-owned vehicles, a national inspection and certification body will be set up. According to ministry sources, an estimated investment of Rs 10,000 crore has been planned with participation from the private sector.

Initially, the government plans to set up a model centre in each state during the 11th Five-Year Plan. ���The tests will allow only efficient vehicles to ply on the roads. A large number of vehicles, there would be several lakhs of them, could be off the roads once the safety and emission parameters are implemented. We plan to cancel registration of vehicles not meeting safety standards,��� a ministry official said.

The government���s concern comes from the fact that the country has the highest number of road fatalities in the world. More than 11 lakh lives are lost every year, which is 15% of the world���s total. In fact, vehicular emission is the single-biggest contributor of pollution in urban areas.

The tests will initially start in metros such as Delhi and Mumbai, and in the second phase, all settlements with over 10 lakh population will be covered. Mobile testing laboratories have been envisaged for small towns and cities.