Delhi's first automated commercial vehicle fitness testing centre will be opened during the current month, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said.
All commercial vehicles, including buses, taxis, autorickshaws, heavy and light commercial vehicle, among others, have to undergo testing and get a fitness certificate.
The testing centre at Jhuljhuli of west Delhi would be better compared to visual inspection currently done at the testing facility in Burari of North Delhi, according to officials.
New commercial vehicles have to be tested and also every year after the first two years, for the vehicle's overall performance and its condition.
"For the past one month, we have been doing fitness testing of school buses and AITP (All India Tourist Permit) buses at the Jhuljhuli centre on a pilot basis," Delhi Transport Department Special Commissioner K.K. Dahiya told IANS.
The testing of different parts of a vehicle like brakes and headlights will be done by machines and a test result would be generated.
Dahiya said that the new centre would take pressure off the only vehicle fitness testing centre in Burari.
The Jhuljhuli centre, set up in three acres of land, is a joint venture between the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Delhi government.
Dahiya said that the Burari centre will continue to function and they plan to automate the centre by the end of the current year.
A Transport Department official told IANS that the automated centre would end corruption as it would not be up to the inspecting officer to give the fitness certificate and the whole process would be more transparent.
"If the vehicles are in a better condition it would also decrease road accidents," the officer said.
According to officials, the drivers waiting area of the centre is under construction.
(Nikhil M. Babu can be contacted at nikhil.b@ians.in)
--IANS
nkh/ahm/
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
