Chhattisgarh Government is now preparing to crack down on vehicles running without fitness, tax and necessary documents. E-detection system has been established on all the national highways of the state so that unfit vehicles and vehicles with unpaid taxes will be automatically issued challans when they pass through the toll.

As per the vision of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, transport facilities are being developed in the state under the competent guidance of Transport Minister Mohammad Akbar. In view of the rising number of deaths in road accidents, the Chief Minister directed the officials concerned to take preventive measures to reduce road accidents in the state.

E-detection system started on all the National Highways of the state

One of the main reasons behind road accidents is unfit heavy vehicles running recklessly on highways. So to prevent road accidents caused by unfit vehicles, e-detection systems have been installed on the national highways on the initiative of the Transport Department in the state. Through this system, unfit vehicles will be automatically detected and challan will be issued.

According to the information received, Transport Department has developed an e-detection portal in collaboration with NIC Orissa to detect such vehicles plying on National Highways in Chhattisgarh.

The objective of the e-Detection portal is to collect data on the vehicles passing through various toll plazas on National Highways. In the first phase, toll gates on NH have been linked with the e-detection portal. Later data will be collected from mining and industrial areas, with the help of ANPR cameras.

Punitive action on vehicles running without required documents

The information on the vehicles will be collected from the data received through FASTag, and photographs will be taken as the vehicles pass through the toll gate. The vehicles without legally required valid documents will be automatically issued challans by the e-Detection portal.

The challan will be sent to the vehicle owner's mobile via SMS and until the challan is paid by the vehicle owner, all the works related to that vehicle will be restricted in all RTOs.

Transport Secretary S. Prakash has appealed to the vehicle owners to get all the necessary documents of the vehicle up-to-date before taking the vehicle on the road. Transport Commissioner Dipanshu Kabra has also requested the vehicle owners to do the needful in order to avoid penalties of fitness, tax, insurance and PUC.

Prashant Kumar Nayak, Senior Technical Director, NIC Odisha, Srinivasa Rao, Senior Technical Director, NIC Chhattisgarh and Scientist Amit Dewangan have played an important role in the development of this Chhattisgarh's e-detection portal.

Following the recommendation of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCORS), the government has taken a policy decision to implement e-detection. Recently, the Secretary of the Supreme Court Committee, Sanjay Mittal, visited some districts and reviewed the corrective measures initiated to reduce road accidents in the state. He had given instructions to curb the vehicles running without fitness and insurance.

Updated documents required for vehicles

It is to be known that to drive a vehicle on the road, it is mandatory to have valid documents like a tax pass, registration certificate, fitness certificate, permit (if transport vehicle), insurance and pollution control certificate (PUCC) for all vehicles and driving license is mandatory for all vehicle drivers. Personal vehicles do not require fitness and permits.

As per the sample data collected from toll gates on National Highways, it is observed that many vehicles are plying without valid documents. Unfit heavy goods vehicles without a tax pass were also spotted. These vehicles are the major cause of road accidents and also create problems in insurance claims.