Team-BHP - Fitness test for private vehicles soon

Quote:

Based on an EPCA (environment pollution control authority) recommendation, the transport department is putting together a proposal for mandatory fitness checks of all private vehicles. At present, only commercial vehicles need to get an annual fitness check done at authorized regional transport offices.

Source & Full Article - Govt proposes fitness tests for private vehicles| Zigwheels.com

This will be another joke.

Going by the kind of buses, trucks and tempos that run all over India (some probably left behind by the British); it is very clear that nobody gives a damn to RTO's fitness tests.

They can't get behind the commercial vehicles; so they do the next sensible thing : aim the common man and his vehicle!

I frankly don't see the point of this.

So apart from the FC and the semi-annual PUC checks, FT's also now ? What does the FT achieve for environmental pollution, that the PUC will not ? Or are they going to replace the PUC with the FT ? Or make PUC part of FT ?

One more regulation from the west, that will not implemented fully, but will only add to the things to follow.

When I was studying in the US, they had fitness tests. It consisted of checking brakes and headlight leveling, plus a look for obvious rust on the body. In case there was a problem, you had to rectify and get back to them.
In India, it will just mean one more avenue for RTO to extract 'friendship' money.

Yearly phenomenon - assured recurring income for many bureaucrats clap:
Sadly this will become nothing more than another scheme wherein the basic purpose gets lost and a new hydra evolves to take some money out of the consumers pocket, environment be damned.

This works both for the automobile industry (more sales) and for govt (more revenue). I only hope they lay down the criteria as clearly as possible so that there is little to no possibility of the customer being fleeced.

The commercial vehicle operator gives a part of his profits to the police/bureaucrat/politician mafia, and is able to run an unfit vehicle on the roads.
Its a system, which works because the cost of this bribe is factored into their rates.

Now the question arises, how will a private car owner factor in the cost of the bribe? Will company salaries factor in a component for this bribe?

If anybody here is even slightly hopeful that there will be some transparency in this process, that person is delusional. Commercial vehicles go for fitness test every year, and yet look at the roads. Tell me how many trucks even have tail lights?
How did they even manage to pass the fitness test?

And do not forget things like jugaad and maruta and bhoond and countless contraptions which run on the roads without papers or license.

ANNUAL FITNESS TEST MUST FOR 5-YR-OLD CARS IN DELHI SOON
20 Jun 2012, Hindustan Times (Delhi)

If you own a car or two-wheeler that is more than five years old, you will have to get a fitness certificate for it every year or else your vehicle won’t be insured and you’ll run the risk of paying a fine.

Till now, only private vehicles more than 15 years old needed a one-time fitness certificate to ply the Capital’s roads forever.

“Annual fitness certification of vehicles is a norm in many countries. It will not just check vehicular emissions but also ensure safety standards,” a senior Delhi government officer said.

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has approved of the transport department’s proposal, which will be brought before the state cabinet soon.

Senior transport department officials said all authorised service stations and big automobile workshops will be mandated to check vehicles and issue fitness certificates for R300.

“This will not just help check the roadworthiness of vehicles but also help bring down the number of accidents and incidents of fire in vehicles,” said Anil Chikara, an automobile expert and senior officer in the state transport department.

He added that once the proposal is implemented, vehicle owners will be compelled to maintain their vehicles properly.

Another money earning scheme !!!!!:Frustrati

Delhi not only has cars registered in this state plying on the roads, but also those from Haryana and UP. Will those cars be pulled up as well?
Although this move might boost the second hand car sales from Delhi to other states, wonder what it will do for second hand cars market in Delhi!!

The only thing that I have to say is:

Stupid ways by the Delhi Government to add more bucks to their kitty.

This Govt. is killing us, they are devising methods to torture us and mint a few bucks in the process.

I can look myself standing in the queue to get this certificate in the sweltering sun.

I just cannot believe what is happening in the automobile sector, right from fuel prices to Excise duty on the diesel vehicles and now this, it seems there is lot more in store.

It seems that in Delhi, the fitness certificate will be issued by a computer which tests parameters like braking, emission etc in so called Automatic Vehicle Testing Centres (AVTC). So I hope there is lesser need to grease those officials. Even tampering with this system might prove difficult

This is not the case in places like Andhra Pradesh where the MVI (motor vehicle inspector) is supposed to do the job. But in many cases the MVI is just plain lazy and the inspection is carried out by some constables. In most cases, they dont even run the vehicle and the speed of getting the fitness certificate depends on the amount of grease. Pathetic system!!

I just hope it does not end up like Pollution testing centres. I am not sure about Delhi, but in Gurgaon all of these pollution testing centres print pre-defined values on the certificate without even testing(or even pretending to do so) the actual emissions of the car, they just add photo of your car on the top. While these testing centers serve no real purpose, most of the amount earned goes for greasing of babus in Pollution department.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mukeshgoel (Post 2814712)

If you own a car or two-wheeler that is more than five years old, you will have to get a fitness certificate for it every year or else your vehicle won’t be insured and you’ll run the risk of paying a fine.

That says it all. The aam admi knows how to avoid paying that fine :D

Rajan

Fitness tests conducted every year is welcome [since it will ensure that a safe car is being driven on the road, if genuinely checked]; as it is being successfully managed in several european countries [check Sam Kapasi's thread somewhere, where he mentioned about tyre fitness, I suppose].

If implemented correctly, its a welcome step. But we know what happens in India with such projects/ambitions.

What I'm confident about, like a member has already expressed here, is the implementation of the process and certainly will add to the govt's list of projects to pocket more money.

**thumbs down**