VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the seventh-highest State in the country in terms of vehicles plying without valid insurance, raising serious concerns over road safety and enforcement. As many as 77,10,411 vehicles are currently uninsured out of nearly 1.8 crore registered vehicles in the State, according to official data.
The information was disclosed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in a written reply to a question raised by Raj Kumar Chabbewal, MP, in Lok Sabha.
The data highlights widespread non-compliance with mandatory motor insurance norms across several states.
According to the data released, Uttar Pradesh tops the list with over 2.1 crore uninsured vehicles, followed by Maharashtra (1.6 crore), Tamil Nadu (1.27 crore) and Gujarat (1.03 crore), indicating that the problem is nationwide.
The figures present a grim picture of enforcement by the transport and police departments, pointing to systemic lapses in monitoring compliance with the Motor Vehicles Act. Although mandatory, many vehicle owners continue to operate without policies.
Officials said insurance is usually taken at the time of registration, but many fail to renew it after expiry, especially after the initial one-year or multi-year coverage period. Tracking such lapses and enforcing renewals has become a major challenge for authorities due to the sheer volume of vehicles on the road.
Two-wheelers account for the highest number of uninsured vehicles, mainly due to affordability issues, lack of awareness and weak enforcement. As they also form a major share of road accidents, the absence of insurance increases financial risks for riders and victims.
Under the Motor Vehicles Act, driving without insurance is punishable. Uninsured vehicles endanger accident victims, deny compensation, and undermine compulsory third-party insurance meant to ensure financial accountability.
“We are suggesting to link insurance validity with the vehicle fitness certificates, or to use the traffic challan systems to plug loopholes. Of the total 1.8 crore vehicles, 18 lakh vehicles have all validities such as fitness certificate, insurance and pollution control certificate. Also, we have identified another 98 lakh vehicles to have expired any of these certificates recently and 70 lakh vehicles expired long back. Instructions were given to all district transport officers to carry out drives to update insurance and other periodical certificates. Efforts are on to make active and non-compliant and temporary archived vehicles to active compliant vehicles,” a senior official said.