Bhubaneswar, Sep 26 (IANS): In a major relief for people who are waiting for fixation of High Security Registration Plates (HSRPs) in their vehicles, the Odisha government has decided not to impose fine on the vehicle owners who have applied for the HSRP online before the deadline, an official said on Monday.

As per the prescribed timeline, September 30 is the deadline for the vehicles carrying Odisha registration mark and registration number ending with 1, 2, 3 & 4, while October 31 and November 30 is the deadline for the Odisha registration vehicles with registration number ending with 5 & 6 and 7 & 8, respectively.

Similarly, the vehicle owners carrying Odisha registration mark and registration number ending with 9 and 0 will have to affix the HSRP by December 31.

So, the law enforcing agencies will start enforcement activities on the fitment of the HSRP from October 1.

Dipti Ranjan Patra, joint commissioner transport (technical) said it is observed that due to sudden rise in online booking for fitment of HSRP, some of the vehicle owners are facing difficulties for getting a slot for fitment of HSRP within the timeline.

In case any vehicle owner has applied for HSRP online before the timeline applicable to his/her vehicle, he/she shall be exempted from enforcement checking provided they produce an online booking slip during the checking, the official said.

However, the vehicle owner who has not affixed the HSRP within the scheduled date or does not have the online booking slip, e-challan of Rs 5,000 or Rs 10,000 will be issued against the offending vehicle as per Section 192 of M.V. Act, 1988, warned Patra.

So far, a total of 1,678,163 vehicle owners have booked slots, out of which HSRP has been affixed in 730,303 vehicles.

The Odisha transport department has made affixation of HSRP mandatory since June 1, 2022 for all classes of old vehicles which were registered prior to April 1, 2019.

Notably, the HSRP has already been made mandatory for all new vehicles registered on or after April 1, 2019.