BHUBANESWAR: The State Transport Authority (STA) on Monday informed the Orissa High Court that booking of slots for the high security registration plate (HSRP) has been increased to 25,000 per day for the convenience of vehicle owners.
The High Court had sought an affidavit from the state government on the current status of infrastructure for fitment of HSRP in a hassle free manner. In an affidavit, the STA stated about various steps taken by the Commerce and Transport department for increasing the availability of slots, facilities for booking of slots and fitment of HSRP on old vehicles.
The deadline for fixation of number plates has been extended by one more month as around 17.8 lakh vehicle owners are yet to get it. Online booking facility is now available at all Mo Seva Kendras across the state including the areas where internet facility is inadequate.
The High Court was intimated that several steps have been taken to streamline the fitment of number plates and vehicle manufacturers have been instructed to enhance their slot capacity so that people can get slots easily to affix HSRP within a short span of time.
So far, about 29 lakh old vehicle owners have booked for fixation of HSRP on their vehicles out of which grievances have been received from about 200 vehicle owners. The grievances on slot booking and fitment issues have been resolved by the STA and the call centres set up by the authorised vendors of manufacturers.
All automobile manufacturers and authorised vendors have been asked to follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) for issuance of number plates in case of duplicate or damaged plates. The SOP is available online for the benefit of vehicle owners.
The affidavit also mentioned about 38 HSRP facilitation counter opened at RTOs and ARTOs, besides the camps/temporary fitment centre at 88 locations and important government and private establishments, where dealers’ network are not available, to provide booking facility.
Instruction has been issued for random inspection for quality check on fitment and standards through a squad consisting of deputy commissioner (transport), north zone and south zone, it added.