Get ready to replace your vehicle number plates

Get ready to replace number plates of your cars and bikes, as the process of introducing high-security registration plates(HSRP), an initiative planned seven years ago, has been revived by the transport department, which is inviting fresh tenders for its implementation.

The initiative will see owners of over 1.09 crore vehicles in the state replacing their existing number plates with HSRP plates within two years, in line with  the specification set by central government along with new vehicles that would be purchased in future at the RTOs.

Department sources said the cost of HSRPs would not as expensive as the price quoted by the bidder in the previous round of tendering process that ran into rough weather 2009.

Speaking with DNA, transport commissioner, KR Sreenivas said: “Nothing can be said about the cost of HSRP number plate now. We have called the tender.

There are several stages to award the tender and a cabinet approval is required at the end. We are following specifications set by the central government while implementing the project.”

The previous bidder had reportedly quoted Rs550 for number plate of two-wheelers, Rs650 for cars and light-motor vehicles and Rs1,200 for heavy vehicles.

The state government was forced to abandon that tender process after opposition to the high price and also due to aspersions against the bidder. The matter came for discussion on the floor of both the houses. The JD(S) accused transport minister R Ashoka of having a vested interest in awarding the tender, a charge denied by the latter. Sources said the contractor approached the Supreme Court against the decision of the state government.

The HSRP will have letters and numbers embossed on the plate. It will have a seven-digit PCIN (Permanent Consecutive Identification Number) and all the plates will have letters ‘IND’ in blue colour, indicating the country identification—India. The number plates will also have holograms and the national emblem.  

Vehicle owners will be asked to place a sticker on the top left corner of the wind screen with details, including the engine number. Once the number plates are fixed, it cannot be removed as it has got snap lock system.

The central government favours uniformity in the number plates across the country. Though it instructed the states to implement the project in 2005, most of the states failed to to do so, except a few in the north eastern region.

Once the project is launched, number plates will be fixed at the RTO where vehicles are registered. The PCIN is generated automatically through the computerised system. The vendor will be given 48 hours to produce the number plates as per the specification, and once ready with plates, will inform the owner.

The number plates are fixed in the presence of inspectors of transport department.

An official fo the department said, “Once the scheme comes into force, people cannot tamper with the plates.”

@Suchithkidiyoor