State Transport dept extends waiver scheme till March 31

‘Waiver Scheme 2023-24’ from January 1 has evoked satisfactory responses with over 1.90 lakh people already availing the facilities

The state Transport department extended the waiver scheme and suspension on VLTD as a mandatory pre-condition to the issuance of Certificate of Fitness (CF) till March 31 following a request by the transport operators. The waiver scheme wherein the department had granted a 100 per cent waiver of penalty accrued on taxes up to December 31, 2023, was due to end on February 29. It was extended after several transport organisations approached the department requesting an extension of the scheme as well as the extension of the date for fitment of VLTD to avail benefits under the scheme by a few months.

Hence, the provision relating to the fitment of Vehicle Location Tracking Device (VLTD) as a mandatory precondition to the issuance of a Certificate of Fitness (CF) which was kept in abeyance till February 29 was further extended till March 31.

Earlier, Transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty had said that a meeting would be held wherein the requests made by the operators would be taken into consideration. The Joint Forum of Transport Operators (JFTO)had written to the minister as well as the secretary of the department Saumitra Mohan requesting an extension of the date of the waiver scheme at least for three months from February 29, 2024. The ‘Waiver Scheme 2023-24’ from January 1 has evoked satisfactory responses with over 1.90 lakh people already availing the facilities. The state is also offering a waiver of additional fees for not obtaining CF in due time and a waiver of penalty on delayed renewal/ issuance of permit 100 per cent, if paid between January 1 to January 30, 2024, and 80 per cent if paid between January 31, 2024, to February 29, 2024. “We want vehicles — both private and commercial — to run on the road with valid documents so that they do not face hassle from the police or the motor vehicle inspectors. So, we have introduced the waiver scheme and we want more and more people to avail this opportunity,” Chakraborty said.

As per estimates of the state Transport department, there are around 12.5 lakh vehicles that have tax pending or have not done a certificate of fitness (CF) in due time or have not renewed their permit.