A combined transport office complex sanctioned by the State Government on a 20-acre expanse along the Gundur-IT Park Road will feature an integrated testing centre planned as a pilot project, official sources said.
The Government has already released the funds for the combined transport office, which will also house the offices of Regional Transport Office (East) and the Deputy Transport Commissioner with jurisdiction over four districts: Tiruchi, Karur, Perambalur and Ariyalur.
The integrated testing centre will ensure testing of suspension, electrical aspects, tyre strength, and other aspects of vehicle maintenance at one go, an official said.
In case of private vehicles the fitness certificates are valid for 15 years from the date of registration and thereafter renewed every five years. The fitness is checked and certified by the registering authority.
As for transport vehicles the fitness certificate is issued for a new vehicle for two years and subsequently renewed every year.
Fitness certificate is meant to check the pollution caused by the emission of smoke from the vehicles, to maintain the vehicle in proper condition and to avoid accidents. The necessity for automated testing of vehicles has arisen to eliminate errors that are otherwise caused by manual evaluation of fitness, the sources said.
The pilot project envisages equipping the testing centre with sensors, electronic motors, speedometers, vibration plates and beam testers. The full report of a vehicle subjected to testing will be readied in print form within an hour.
The road worthiness of the vehicles will be determined through parameters such as noise levels of exhaust, accuracy of speedometer, brake impact and suspension, alignment and intensity of the headlight and auxiliary light, sources added.