28 automated testing stations to ensure fitness of vehicles in Kerala soon: Minister-OxBig News Network

Kerala will soon have 28 automated testing stations (ATSs) to ensure that there is no human intervention during the mandatory fitness tests of vehicles.

Replying to a question in the Assembly here on Friday, Transport Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar said the tender process of starting 19 ATSs in the private sector under the Build-Own-Operate-Revenue Share was under way.

In addition to the commissioning of 19 new ATSs, steps were being taken to invite separate tenders for the maintenance of three completed ATSs and the upgrading of six partially completed ATSs to the existing standards and for their continued maintenance. This initiative was based on the Central directive which stipulated that the fitness testing for vehicles be fully automated from April 1, the Minister said.

The automated system of inspecting the fitness of vehicles would ensure the roadworthiness of vehicles at regular intervals. The Central Motor Vehicles Act stipulates that all commercial vehicles such as buses, trucks, and cabs, have to be subjected to fitness test every two years until the vehicles are eight years old. Thereafter, the mandatory test should be carried out annually. In the case of private vehicles such as cars, the fitness test is mandated after 15 years from the date of registration.

The Minister said that the vehicles that failed the test should not be allowed on roads. Switching to automated testing was also helpful in reducing the number of fatal accidents as the fitness of vehicles was a crucial factor in accidents, he said.