While the state government is all pumped up about the mechanical fitness test lane project, Mumbaikars are not likely to benefit from it.
While the state government is all pumped up about the mechanical fitness test lane project, Mumbaikars are not likely to benefit from it.
Reason: It will be difficult to accommodate the infrastructure required for operating a project of this magnitude at the space-starved regional transport offices (RTOs) in the city.
“The project requires at least three to four acres of vacant area for its proper implementation,” said senior transport department official. “Forget Mumbai, we had problems acquiring space in other centres across the state. Nashik, Baramati and Nagpur (Rural) were the only RTOs to give us that much space.”
The first centre to implement the mechanical fitness test lane project will be the Nashik RTO.
“Ideally, we would want to start the system in urban commercial centres, such as Mumbai, Thane and Pune, which have a heavy concentration of vehicles and show a substantial increase every year. But, there is no additional space available at the RTOs in these regions.”
The city has three RTOs — at Tardeo for vehicles from central Mumbai, at Wadala for vehicles from the eastern suburbs and at Andheri for vehicles from the western suburbs.
State transport commissioner VN More said: “The problem with Mumbai is that there is just no space available. We are facing problems in acquiring land on a rental basis for the Borivli RTO.”
But, lower-ranking officials at the Tardeo and Andheri RTOs are confident that they can create space for the ambitious project.
“We have ample space. Only if it were utilised properly, we can introduce new schemes,” said an officer from Tardeo RTO, which is spread over seven acres.
An official from the Andheri RTO said: “We have around nine acres of space. When we move to the new building, with proper planning, space for the driving test track as well as the vehicle fitness track can be created.”
But, officials from the Wadala RTO were not very confident of implementing the project.
“We operate out of a single floor measuring 10,000 sqm. Our officials do not have seating space and the 450-500 driving tests that we conduct every day are done on a badly paved road. It is impossible for us to even conceive of a driving test track due to lack of space, let alone a vehicle fitness track,” an official said.
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