Financial bids for high-security number plates to open today

LUCKNOW: The transport department will take a little more time before the contract for the high security registration plates is awarded. On Wednesday, after a high-level meeting, the department was directed to procure more details about the bidders. "The department will have to find out more on the bidders," said sources.
Meanwhile, the financial bids will be opened on Thursday.The transport department had invited the bids on May 30. Bids have been received from four firms, Celex Technologies, Utsav, Agro Impact and Real Mazon. The department had to scan the technical bids by June 5 and the report was to be submitted to the committee headed by the IDC. The contract process for HSRP in UP is much delayed. The Supreme Court had given the April 30 deadline to all the states to complete the contract process.
The implementation of HSRP scheme in UP had run into a rough weather after the high court scrapped the earlier contract awarded to Mumbai-based Shimnit Ustsch Pvt. Ltd., for all the hanky-panky involved in the process. In a case of once bitten twice shy, state transport department is acting extra cautious in the contract process this time.
The contract will be awarded to a single firm for fitment of plates in the existing motor vehicles in the state. There are about 8-10% new vehicles added to the existing fleet every year in the state. All new motor vehicles will have the new registration plates while the motor vehicles currently in use will be fitted with HRSP within two years of the implementation of the scheme.
The total number of motor vehicles in Lucknow region, as on March 2012, was 21.6 lakh, whereas it is 1.2 crore in the entire state. The state will award the contract for a period of 10 years.
HSRP has been introduced by the Central government for prevention of counterfeiting and duplication of registration plates and to ensure uniformity in size, colour and specification of HSRP in all types of motor vehicles. The HSRP scheme makes it mandatory that only the authorised dealer can fit the plate and the entire process has to be done at the regional transport office.
The firms with the type approval certificate can only bid for the contract in different states. The numerous litigations that have been filed, since 2001, ever since CMVR were amended, challenging the awarding of contracts has kept the implementation of HSRP scheme waiting for years, in most of the states.