SHILLONG: The Centre has sanctioned a project for setting up of a vehicle inspection centre in the city at a cost of Rs.14.4 crore.
Senior official with the International Centre for Automotive Technology, Ashish Kumar, had a meeting with Transport Minister H.D.R. Lyngdoh and Commissioner of Transport, Israel W. Ingty, on Tuesday to discuss the matter.
The testing centre to be set up in Shillong to assess the fitness of vehicles and emission of smoke is as per Rule 62 of the Central Motor Vehicle Act.
Kumar said the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has sanctioned funds for setting up of the vehicle inspection centre in the State.
He said the requirement of land to set up the testing centre is 3 acres and fees will be charged from vehicle owners for the test as per the existing CMV rule.
According to Kumar, the testing centre can be set up within 12 months of land allotment.
During the official level meeting, the State government assured all support to start the testing centre.
The Transport minister said the testing centre will cater to as many as six districts of the State except Garo Hills due to the distance factor.
“Since the testing centre will be set up in Shillong, it will be difficult for vehicle owners from Garo Hills to bring their vehicles all the way from Garo Hills; hence we will ask for setting up of a separate testing centre in that region,” the minister said.
Lyngdoh said the government will identify suitable land in the city to set up the proposed testing centre.
According to the Transport minister, he will visit existing projects at Haryana and Delhi in the first week of February to gain firsthand experience.
Currently in the absence of a proper testing centre, Meghalaya is adopting only manual and visual inspection to test the fitness of the vehicles in the transport offices of the districts.
Commissioner of Transport, Israel W Ingty also said that the State government has already re-activated the pollution testing centres at petrol pumps in the State.
To a question, the official assured that the government was committed to enforce various regulations to check the fitness of the vehicles to ensure road safety.
