Change of number plates from AP to Telangana clashes with GO making security plates must
9 July 2015 6:34 AM IST
There are 82 lakh vehicles in Telangana currently, which will require a change of registration plates
Total number of vehicles that require changes to TS numbers: 82 lakh
Hyderabad: While a final notification for changing the number plates of the existing 16 lakh vehicles in the city from AP to TS series is awaited, a detailed proposal for taking up all old vehicles under the HSRP is currently under examination by the Transport department.
There are 82 lakh vehicles in Telangana currently, which will require a change of registration plates from AP to TS series. And those that were registered prior to January 2015 will need to change over to the HSRP number plates too.
Before January end, a vehicle registration could be done simply by paying the RTO fee, and most of these were being done without the HSRP number plates. Since the mandate of the HSRP, one needs to first pay the registration fee for the HSRP and submit the authorization slip issued along with the payment slip by the RTO for making the payment. Only after the payment receipt is shown are the final formalities of digital signature completed by the RTA authorities.
Since January 6.73 lakh new vehicles have been registered with TS series under the HSRP project. Meanwhile, the final GO, which is to be issued by the transport department asking all vehicle owners in Telangana to change their vehicles’ registration numbers from AP to TS, is still being worked out.
The preliminary notification was issued by the transport department of Telangana asking for suggestions and comments on the issue about two months back. The GO has been kept on hold due to possible cost implications being pointed out by stakeholders. “The modalities are being worked out as the number of vehicles that require to be changed to TS series is huge and there are possible implications. We have received a proposal from the agency implementing the HSRP project and it is currently under consideration,” said a senior official from the department.
Plate process to be privatised
RTA offices aren't ready to handle the large number of old vehicles that will turn up for new number plates due to space crunch. It is therefore, exploring the possibility of privatising the process. However, loopholes may arise in the number-plate fixing process and hence authorities are unable to take a decision on the issue. There are 10 RTOs in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, which daily overflow with vehicles that come for registrations and driving license requirements. RTAs in Kondapur, Khairatabad, Uppal and Tolichowki etc.
Sometimes have lines of vehicles waiting to enter the premises. RTA Kondapur often has a line of buses and heavy vehicles apart from private vehicles, which come for driving tests, leading to huge traffic snarls on the Hafeezpet Road.
“The fixing of number plates can be done in private kiosks. The entire back-end support is ready. Once a vehicle with an old number-plate comes, the number will be fed into the system, synchronized with the main server and the same numbers with a different series will be given,” states the proposal.
While the proposal addresses the space constraint, it fails to deal with the mandatory surveillance. Privatisation makes the process difficult as it is mandatory for the HSRP plates to be affixed under the surveillance of the RTA authorities. Having a private space where fixing can take place will lead to the problem of lack of surveillance,” said an insider.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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