Owners of all commercial vehicles can now pay Rs 1,500 for failing to undertake a fitness test on time, irrespective of the pending fines for the failure, and appear for one after paying the test charges, transport minister Firhad Hakim said.
In the existing system, a fitness test costs Rs 850 and failure to appear for it within a stipulated period invites a fine of Rs 50 a day.
A year’s penalty amounts to Rs 18,250. The owner of a commercial vehicle that has not undertaken the test for two years has to shell out Rs 36,500 as fine.
Many bus and minibus owners who have defaulted on the test have said the steep penalty was deterring them further from getting the fitness of their vehicles checked.
In the new system, which will remain in force for three months, defaulters can have their pending fines waived by paying Rs 1,500 and then take their vehicles for the test. The offer will be applicable to all commercial vehicles, including buses and contract carriages.
“The offer will be valid for three months beginning next week. We will come out with a notification by Thursday. All commercial vehicle owners will get a chance to clear their pending fitness tests by paying this fine at a flat rate,” Hakim said on Wednesday. “Those who miss this opportunity will have to pay their fines according to the existing rules.”
The waiver of pending fines comes at a time when a large number of buses and minibuses have disappeared from the city’s roads, leaving commuters harassed.
The waiver is expected to bring relief to the owners who have been operating without a valid fitness certificate and decided to withdraw their fleet since the government announced new fines.
The penalty for plying without a valid certificate of fitness has been raised from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000.
Many bus and minibus operators had said it was better to keep their vehicles parked than pay the hefty amount.
“There are a number of private buses and minibuses that have not undergone any fitness test over the past two years because of the pandemic-induced financial distress,” said Pradip Narayan Bose, secretary of the West Bengal Bus and Minibus Owners’ Association. “The state government’s decision will help them.”
Like on previous days, on Wednesday, too, buses and minibuses on a number of routes remained off roads as the owners struggled paying road tax, insurance and other fees. All five minibuses on the Jodhpur Park-BBD Bag route did not operate during the day.
The minibuses on the Jadavpur-BBD Bag route, too, did not roll out during the day.
Of the 35 buses on route number 1 — between Anandapur and Behala — more that half did not roll out.
