Data-cleaning exercise to be carried out by RTAs
Kolkata: The transport department directed the Regional Transport Authorities (RTAs) to carry out data-cleaning exercise as and when an individual vehicle comes to the RTA office for any transaction to eliminate the large number of anomalous
vehicular data found in the VAHAN database.
The anomalous vehicular data found in the database has made its utility as a tool of administrative interventions questionable. Hence, the department felt the need to rectify it emergently through a methodical data cleaning exercise for improving their quality.
The RTOs have also been asked to send a monthly report with regards to this and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) may be consulted in case of any difficulty arising during the exercise. “This will help in effective monitoring of the data cleaning process,” the notice stated.
The data anomalies are connected with duplicate data within state and interstate, anomalies found on registration date and on purchase date, electric vehicle data, inconsistencies found in the assignment of vehicle category, homologation-related vehicle registration data and data of sale value.
A Transport official said that a similar drive was carried out in Kolkata and Howrah whereby the department sent notices to commercial vehicle owners from 1998 to 2009. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had ordered for all vehicles more than 15-years-old to be phased out.
Keeping that in mind, the drive was carried out in four phases last year for Kolkata and Howrah. Around 2,15,000 commercial vehicles were deregistered after their owners submitted an affidavit stating that these vehicles were scrapped and no longer plying on road. Accordingly, the data was updated on VAHAN portal.
Other districts have also been advised to do the same and update the data while also considering the number of vehicles which are no longer plying, the official said.