Crackdown on vehicles sans HSRPs

Bhubaneswar: The state transport department on Thursday announced that a massive crackdown will be launched against vehicles plying without high security registration plates (HSRP)s. In June last year, the government made the affixation of HSRPs mandatory for vehicles that were registered prior to April 1, 2019.
The deadline for the affixation of HSRPs in vehicles registered prior to April 1, 2019 ended on February 28. “We found that many vehicles are still plying on roads without HSRPs. We advise them to get the HSRPs affixed by June 22 as we will start penalising the offenders from the next day,” additional commissioner, transport (road safety & enforcement), Lalmohan Sethi said.
Sethi said a first-time offender will be fined Rs 5,000 and repeat offences would attract penalties up to Rs 10,000. Transport department sources said a total of 40,93,608 vehicle owners booked slots out of which HSRPs have been affixed on 35,87,577 vehicles till Wednesday.
“We assume that about 10 lakh vehicle owners have not yet applied for the HSRP. Many of them might be running on roads by using fake number plates. We have been receiving complaints that fake registration numbers are being used by many vehicles,” Sethi said.
Police said over 10,000 vehicles, mostly motorcycles, have been captured in the CCTVs with disfigured registration plates in the city in the past one year.