Haryana vehicles get one year more to comply with standards

No new transport vehicle will be registered if it is not compliant with the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), 1989, in Haryana. All transport vehicles have been given a one-year extension for conforming to the prescribed standards.

Disclosing this here on Thursday, an official spokesman said the decision was taken because of shortage of body manufacturers in the region, the fear of closure and stoppage of production by automobile manufacturers and threat of thousands of labourers being thrown out of jobs.

The decision was taken on Wednesday at a meeting among Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Transport Minister Ram Bilas Sharma and representatives of the striking truckers, manufacturers and industry. All aspects of the issue related to the strike by truckers were discussed at the meeting.

It was decided that transport vehicles will be granted one-time fitness certificate with the undertaking and surety bond of Rs 2 lakh in case they do not right-size their vehicles and make them CMVR-compliant within a year

The automobile industry manufacturers, which hire 25,000 vehicles, have decided not to hire those vehicles to transport their produce that do not comply with CMVR, 1989.

It was also decided that if the vehicles failed to conform to the standards after one year, the security will be forfeited.

The representatives of Hero MotorCorp, who were present at the meeting, said about 4,000 of the 4,800 transport vehicles used by them were registered in Haryana and these would need about two years to comply with the CMVR, 1989. One-year time may be granted with the guarantee from the vehicle owner, so that all transport vehicles used by them become compliant in time.

The All India Motor Congress and other associations, which had gone on strike, regretted their failure to right-size their vehicles.

It was also decided that new vehicles will be registered/declared fit only when they are of the specified dimensions, the spokesman added.

Those present at the meeting included principal secretary (Transport), transport commissioner, Haryana, representatives of Hero MotorCorp, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Maruti Suzuki, Honda Motors and transport associations, including chairman of the All India Motor Transport Congress.