Jaipur : The Transport Minister of the department and Deputy Chief Minister Premchand Bairwa has raised questions on the High Security Number Plate (HSRP) being installed in vehicles by the Transport Department in Rajasthan. The minister has written a letter to the ACS of the Transport Department and directed to stop the process of installing number plates in vehicles.
Hence the instructions to shut down
The minister has said in the letter that at present the Transport Department is getting high security number plates installed in vehicles through the SIAM portal. SIAM is a national level portal, which is used to apply online for high security number plates.
In Rajasthan, number plates are being installed through this portal. Vehicle companies install number plates on the basis of applications received through this portal. The minister argues that under this process, slots are being booked for vehicle owners several months ahead and a higher amount is being charged. This is causing problems to the common people. The minister has given instructions to start a separate process at the department level.
More than 15 lakh vehicle owners booked slots
The Transport Department had started the process of installing high security number plates on vehicles from December 2023. But till June 2024, only 3.33 lakh drivers in the state had applied for high security number plates.
After this, the department extended the application date till 31 July. Due to less applications, the date was further extended till 10 August on the instructions of the minister. Till this day, about 15 lakh vehicle owners had applied for number plates.
Whereas HSRP is to be installed in about 25 lakh vehicles. But due to the slow process, plates were installed in only a few vehicles. The minister has given instructions to refund the booking money to the vehicle owners after 5 days. In such a situation, money will have to be refunded to more than 10 lakh vehicles.
