DEHRADUN: People from Uttarakhand will have to pay hefty fines from November 1 if pollution clearance papers of the vehicle are not complete. First-timers will have to pay Rs 2500 while from second time onwards Rs 5000 fine will be imposed.
Till October 31 a fine of Rs 1000 was being imposed but the state government has now decided to give time to people due to less number of availability of pollution check centres across the state.
Sunita Singh, additional transport commissioner said, "Due to availability of fewer numbers of pollution check centres in the state, the decision was taken to give time till October 31. New rates of pollution check fine will be implemented from Friday onwards."
According to state transport department estimates, out of total 25 lakh vehicles in Uttarakhand, over 6.5 lakh have been cleared for pollution.
In September this year, Uttarakhand government slashed fines to almost half which were imposed in newly amended Motor Vehicle Act 2019 by the central government from September 1, 2019 across India.
At present, under the new Motor Vehicles Act 2019, the fine for letting unauthorized persons drive the vehicle was Rs 5000 which is proposed to be reduced to Rs 2500. Similarly, fine for a minor driving a vehicle is Rs 5000 which is proposed to be slashed by the state government to Rs 2500.
Fine for driving by unfit person who has been declared not suitable to handle driving is Rs 10,000 was brought down to Rs 5000, fine for wrong registration was decreased to Rs 5000 from Rs 10,000 and economic penalty for talking on mobile phone while driving is now Rs 1000 for first time and second time the person is fined for Rs 5000 in comparison to Rs 5000 under new MV Act by the center.
Violations of sound and pollution standards which attract Rs 10,000 fine was brought down to Rs 2500 for first-time violation and Rs 5000 for repeating the same offence. For overloading the financial penalty was brought down to Rs 2000-5000 in comparison to Rs 20000 under the central law.
Fine and punishment has been kept the same by the state government which is Rs 1000 fine and suspension of driving license for three months of time period.
Fine for honking horns unnecessarily was also kept the same in the new amendment by the state which will be Rs 1000 for the first time and Rs 2000 for the second time and onwards.
For blocking the path of ambulance Rs 5000 fine is imposed after amended act by the state government instead of Rs 10000 under the central law while the absence of insurance will be fined with Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 instead of Rs 2000 and Rs 4000 for two and four-wheelers respectively.