PIONEER NEWS SERVICE / Dehradun
Cabinet minister Ganesh Joshi’s short scooter ride to save fuel caused some embarrassment for the politician after it was reported that the insurance of the vehicle had expired. Refraining from commenting on the issue, departmental officials said that checking drives will be stepped up.
The Regional Transport Office (RTO) of the Dehradun division has decided to intensify routine checks, including daily inspections of vehicle documents such as insurance, pollution control certificate and others.
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to save fuel, Joshi left behind government vehicles and opted to use a scooter recently. However, social media was soon abuzz with details of the scooter the minister rode which had its insurance expire on March 27. The minister was unaware of this as the scooter belonged to his staff member.
Regional transport officer (Administration) Sandeep Saini stated that their enforcement team regularly conducts drives in which they randomly stop vehicles to check documents. If they find any expired documents or if the owner doesn’t have the necessary documents, the team immediately issues a challan. For expired insurance, a challan of Rs 1,000 is issued, while for pollution certificate violations, a challan of Rs 2,500 is issued. However, in cases involving pollution certificates, if a challan is issued and the individual obtains the pollution certificate within five days of the issuance, the penalty may be waived, he said.
Saini further assured that while regular drives for such violations are conducted, they will ensure that inspections for insurance, pollution certificates and other documents are intensified following this incident.
