Sterner rules to be implemented for vehicle fitness certificates
Transporters accuse officials at the inspection centre of demanding bribes.
A bus owner has painted red, yellow and white squares where brake lights are supposed to be. PHOTO: AYESHA MIR/EXPRESS
KARACHI:
Sindh traffic police have started a rigorous campaign against commercial vehicles without fitness certificates.
Sindh traffic police AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo directed all officials to check for fitness certificates of commercial vehicles across the province. Traffic police regularly ask for fitness certificates during their routine checks but will now start a stricter campaign against vehicles unable to produce them. “We are doing this for public safety because vehicles without certificates are unsafe and dangerous,” explained traffic police DIG Arif Hanif.
According to the rules, the fine for not having vehicle fitness certificates or having an expired one has been set at Rs2,000 and the vehicle will remain impounded until a fitness certificate is issued for it. These certificates are needed only for commercial vehicles, such as trucks, tankers, buses, taxies, cargo vans and rickshaws, and are issued at the motor vehicle inspection ground at Saeedabad in Baldia Town, where the vehicles will be inspected every six months. The vehicles that don’t meet the fitness requirements are asked to fix the faults and then come again for inspection.
According to driving licence DIG Syed Manzar Hasnain, motor vehicle inspectors check the physical appearance of the vehicle along with its smoke emission, lights and engine before issuing certificates. Hasnain revealed, however, that they don’t have the equipment to examine certain elements of the vehicle, including smoke analysers.
Hasnain was critical of the amount of fine imposed on those without the certificates, revealing that transporters don’t get their fitness certificates as the penalties are nominal and there is only one inspection ground in the city. “Why would someone from Landhi and Sohrab Goth come all the way to Saeedabad to get certificates when the penalty is less than what it costs to come to the fitness centre,” said Hasnain, adding that the fee for fitness and penalties have been the same since 1983.
Something fishy?
“More than half of the vehicles in the province will fail the fitness test and are likely to be dismantled if they are checked properly,” said Syed Rahim, a supervisor of a bus stand. Rahim added that transporters are forced to pay bribes to the motor vehicle inspector at the fitness centre where they even don’t take their vehicles along for inspections. “We just take our documents and a picture of the vehicle and get the fitness certificate,” he added, saying that taking their vehicle along with them means wasting the whole day. “Everyone at the fitness centre has his own share, even the sepoy who arranges the vehicles in line takes Rs100 from each vehicle.” Rahim also blamed the traffic police for starting the bribe culture. “If you don’t bribe them, they will never give you the fitness certificate and will keep asking you to fix unnecessary parts.”
“Media personnel are not allowed to go inside,” sub inspector Shaukat, who is deployed at the gate of the fitness centre, informed The Express Tribune. “We have strict orders from the administration not to allow media personnel inside and to not speak to them.”
Except for a few dust covered Qingqi rickshaws and staff motorcycles, there were no other vehicle at the fitness centre. The man in charge of the fitness centre, Nisar Ahmed, refused to speak to The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2013.
Sindh traffic police have started a rigorous campaign against commercial vehicles without fitness certificates.
Sindh traffic police AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo directed all officials to check for fitness certificates of commercial vehicles across the province. Traffic police regularly ask for fitness certificates during their routine checks but will now start a stricter campaign against vehicles unable to produce them. “We are doing this for public safety because vehicles without certificates are unsafe and dangerous,” explained traffic police DIG Arif Hanif.
According to the rules, the fine for not having vehicle fitness certificates or having an expired one has been set at Rs2,000 and the vehicle will remain impounded until a fitness certificate is issued for it. These certificates are needed only for commercial vehicles, such as trucks, tankers, buses, taxies, cargo vans and rickshaws, and are issued at the motor vehicle inspection ground at Saeedabad in Baldia Town, where the vehicles will be inspected every six months. The vehicles that don’t meet the fitness requirements are asked to fix the faults and then come again for inspection.
According to driving licence DIG Syed Manzar Hasnain, motor vehicle inspectors check the physical appearance of the vehicle along with its smoke emission, lights and engine before issuing certificates. Hasnain revealed, however, that they don’t have the equipment to examine certain elements of the vehicle, including smoke analysers.
Hasnain was critical of the amount of fine imposed on those without the certificates, revealing that transporters don’t get their fitness certificates as the penalties are nominal and there is only one inspection ground in the city. “Why would someone from Landhi and Sohrab Goth come all the way to Saeedabad to get certificates when the penalty is less than what it costs to come to the fitness centre,” said Hasnain, adding that the fee for fitness and penalties have been the same since 1983.
Something fishy?
“More than half of the vehicles in the province will fail the fitness test and are likely to be dismantled if they are checked properly,” said Syed Rahim, a supervisor of a bus stand. Rahim added that transporters are forced to pay bribes to the motor vehicle inspector at the fitness centre where they even don’t take their vehicles along for inspections. “We just take our documents and a picture of the vehicle and get the fitness certificate,” he added, saying that taking their vehicle along with them means wasting the whole day. “Everyone at the fitness centre has his own share, even the sepoy who arranges the vehicles in line takes Rs100 from each vehicle.” Rahim also blamed the traffic police for starting the bribe culture. “If you don’t bribe them, they will never give you the fitness certificate and will keep asking you to fix unnecessary parts.”
“Media personnel are not allowed to go inside,” sub inspector Shaukat, who is deployed at the gate of the fitness centre, informed The Express Tribune. “We have strict orders from the administration not to allow media personnel inside and to not speak to them.”
Except for a few dust covered Qingqi rickshaws and staff motorcycles, there were no other vehicle at the fitness centre. The man in charge of the fitness centre, Nisar Ahmed, refused to speak to The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2013.