Transport dept to crack down on vehicle owners who have not paid road tax

Kolkata: The state Transport department is going to take stern action against vehicle owners who have not paid road tax.

The Transport department officials will stop the errant vehicles from February 1. The defaulting vehicle owners have been asked to clear the dues by January 31.

It may be mentioned that non-payment of road tax along with the resulting fine amount has reached a staggering Rs 500 crore.

Preliminary inquiry has revealed that around 3.5 lakh vehicle owners have not paid road tax for the past two to three years. It was further found that another 1.5 lakh vehicles are being run without Certificate of Fitness (CF).

The Transport department is preparing a list of the errant vehicles. Senior officials of

the department said paying road tax on time is mandatory. In case a passenger vehicle that has not paid road tax meets with an accident,

the passengers travelling in it will not get any insurance benefit as the vehicle was plying illegally.

Similarly, the commercial vehicles which have not cleared the CF test should not ply on the road. The blueprint is now being made as to how the drives will be conducted throughout the state, said an official of the department.

It may be mentioned that there was huge response among car owners over the waiver scheme introduced by Kolkata Police, in which initially 50 percent of the fine amount was waived.

The state Transport department has also introduced a scheme, through which a person can pay just Rs 1,500 for the CF. However, in order to avail the scheme, the vehicle owner will have to pay the road tax first.

State Transport minister Suvendu Adhikari said stringent action will be taken to bring the errant vehicles within the framework of the legal system and also to provide better safety facilities to the passengers.