VIJAYAWADA: With the traffic police and Road Transport Authority (RTA) officials intensifying vigil against traffic violators, a few vehicle users in the city are riding their vehicles using fake registration numbers to avoid e-challans. Taking a serious note of the issue, the traffic police officials have warned of registering criminal cases against those fraudulently using the registration numbers of other vehicles.
As per the information provided by the RTA officials, the district has 12,71,718 two-wheelers, 1,31,077 four-wheelers, 8,946 other vehicles, 67,731 auto-rickshaws, 2,823 maxicabs, 96,306 goods carrying vehicles, 3,880 educational institution buses and 38,021 tractors.
Recently, the traffic police came to know that a few motorists were tampering with the registration numbers. As a result, the genuine vehicle users were getting the e-challans. Annoyed over the challans, the genuine vehicle owners are approaching the traffic police to resolve the issue.
In one such instance, a two-wheeler user in the city received nine e-challans levied by the city traffic police for various violations. In the challan, the vehicle was mentioned as a tractor and the vehicle user immediately reported the same to the traffic police.
The police have found the tractor plying on the roads with fake number plate. After verifying the chassis and engine number, the tractor was seized on the spot and a case has been registered against under Section 420 of IPC (cheating). This apart, six more vehicles were also found with fake number plates in the past two weeks in the city. Hefty penalty was imposed on the owners and the vehicles were seized on the spot, officials said.
Speaking to TNIE, Deputy Transport Commissioner (DTC) M Purendra said the department had recently seized a lorry near Ibrahimpatnam travelling with a fake number plate of Maharashtra after verifying the vehicle chassis and engine number. The vehicle was handed over to the police and a hefty penalty was imposed on the owner.