The Central Government has brought the Vehicle Classification Rules. According to this rule, vehicles will be divided into four categories based on their condition. If this segregation rule is implemented in Odisha, then 8 lakh vehicles will be removed from the roads. There has been a strong public reaction to this policy of the Central Government. The common people have not forgotten the hardships of the Pollution Control Certificate (PUCC), but if this rule is implemented now, they will be pushed into pain again. People will once again queue up in front of the RTO office for various papers. Those whose vehicles are declared unfit to ply on the roads will have to spend money to buy a new vehicle again.
The Union Road Transport Ministry has written a letter to all the state governments asking them to prepare a database for vehicle classification on the vehicle portal. The purpose of this is to determine the condition of which vehicles and based on that condition, whether the vehicles will be allowed to ply on the roads or not. Vehicles are divided into four categories: Active Complaint, Active Non-Compliant, Temporary Archive and Permanent Archive. As per the rules, if any vehicle has either a valid PUCC or insurance, it will be kept in the Active Complaint category. Vehicles whose PUCC and insurance are not valid for more than two years will be kept in the Active Non-Compliant category. Vehicles whose PUCC and insurance are not valid for more than two years and less than three years will be kept in the Temporary Archive category, and vehicles whose PUCC and insurance are not valid for more than three years will be kept in the Permanent Archive category. This means that the government will accept the vehicle as no longer in use. As a result, vehicles of this category will no longer be able to ply on the roads. Non-commercial vehicles, which are more than 15 years old and do not have PUCC and insurance, will also go to the permanent archive. Which is equivalent to scrapping. But commercial vehicles, if they have not done fitness, insurance or PUCC within two years, will go to the temporary archive.
According to the information received, the number of vehicles in the state that have not had PUCC and insurance for more than 3 years is more than 8 lakh. If the state government strictly implements this rule of the central government, then these 8 lakh vehicles will go to the permanent archive. That is, these vehicles will no longer be able to ply on the roads. In this regard, a senior official of the transport department said that there is a way out for the vehicles that have gone to the permanent archive. The owner of this vehicle will have to directly apply to the ST Commissioner. He will have to show a valid reason as to why the vehicle’s papers have not been renewed for so many years. If the commissioner is satisfied with the reply, he will inform the Union Road Transport Ministry about the permission to ply the vehicle. On the other hand, there is a general fear that such a rule will again put the vehicle owners under control.
