Numberless vehicles becoming common sight

HYDERABAD: A drive through the city brings to light what’s become a common sight- of cars and bikes zipping around without registration numbers. In some instances, the vehicles have just a blank plate fixed to the rear.Motorists, though, place the blame on the 42 day T-strike, during which most RTA officials were absent for the current pile-up of registration cases. But reality is far from what motorists’ claim. “There were around 800 pending registrations with us due to the strike. But now we have cleared all and have issued temporary registration numbers. There are no pending cases,” said D Panduranga Rao, joint transport commissioner, Hyderabad RTA.It seems there is a continued reluctance on part of city motorists to adhere to existing road rules. “The traffic police had become a bit lenient during the T-strike and booked very few cases. Possibly, motorists became too casual but now we are tightening our vigil,” said GVG Ashok Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic).From 973 motorists booked in 2009 for driving without registration plates, the number rose to 2,377 in 2010. Till October 31 this year, police have booked over 600 cases related to registration numbers. “We expect the number of cases to further go up in the last two months of this year,” said Kumar.“People seem to be of the opinion the traffic police is lying low. But considering that driving without a registration number is a serious offence, we will act tough on erring motorists,” he added. The fine for travelling without a registration or temporary number is at least Rs 1,000 and in some cases, the vehicle can also be seized unless documents are produced.Traffic policemen stationed at various junctions in the city are already verifying documents of not just two and four wheelers but also three-wheeler passenger and goods vehicles.The sad part though is that most erring motorists just do not care about implications of travelling without a registration number. Upon asking one such motorist near Punjagutta circle, the man just smiled and sped away caring two hoots about the issue.With traffic police looking to ensure roads are a safer place to drive and walk, motorists would do well to be safe than sorry.