Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s first automated vehicle inspection and fitness certification centre at Cuttack’s Naraj area will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik October 23, state transport department said Tuesday.
Explaining about the centre, which is being built over a 4-acre parcel of land and at a cost of Rs 20 crore, a senior transport department official said that it is being started to bring transparency to vehicle fitness tests and thereby reduce accidents. The Central government has spent Rs 16 crore on this project.
The automated centre would reduce human intervention and result in a better quality of fitness testing while minimising corruption. However, headlights, speedometer, steering along with noise and sound tests will be performed manually. The vehicle owners will receive their fitness certificates online.
A private company has been tasked with running the centre. The inspection fee collected will be used to pay for the maintenance of the centre and the salaries of the employees.
An MVI will be in charge to ensure the machines at the centre are functioning properly.
While the Naraj based Automated Inspection And Certification Centre is a pilot project partly funded by the Union government, similar centres will come also up in Berhampur, Rourkela, Keonjhar, Bhubaneswar and Angul in later days – entirely funded by the state.
It may be mentioned here that similar centres are also being opened across the country to reduce manual intervention by MVIs and corruption while enhancing fitness quality check standards.
PNN
