Bhubaneswar: The Odisha transport authority has asked the owners of old vehicles registered prior to April 1, 2019, to affix High-Security Registration Plates (HSRP) within the timeline to avoid fines.
According to officials, September 30, 2022, is the deadline for the vehicles carrying Odisha registration mark and registration number ending with 1, 2,3 & 4, October 31, and November 30 is the deadline for the Odisha registration vehicles with registration number ending with 5 and 6 and 7 and 8, respectively.
Similarly, the vehicle owners carrying Odisha registration marks and registration numbers ending with 9 and 0 will have to affix the HSRP by December 31, 2022.
If the vehicle owners fail to replace the existing number plates with HRPS before the above-mentioned deadlines, e-challans will be issued against the offending vehicle and attract a fine of Rs 5000 or Rs 10,000 under Section 192 of MV Act, 1988, warned Dipti Ranjan Patra, joint commissioner, transport.
As on August 24, 2022, a total of 7,06,215 vehicle owners have booked slots, out of which HSRP has been affixed in 4,08,680 vehicles, he said.
Old number plates are easy to tamper with and can be misused by thieves. However, the HSRP plates come with a non-removable snap-lock and are difficult to replace. These plates are tamper-proof and come with two nonreusable locks, he said.
In accordance with the orders from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the Odisha transport department has made affixation of HSRP mandatory since June 1, 2022, for all classes of old vehicles that were registered prior to April 1, 2019. The HSRP is mandatory for all new vehicles registered on or after April 1, 2019.
