AGARTALA, July 31 (TIWN): The state government is contemplating to amend the Tripura Motor Vehicles Act to accommodate provisions for conversion of petrol driven motorized vehicles into CNG vehicles by adding the CNG kit, official sources said. A highly placed source in the state Transport Department today said that the last cabinet meeting formed a committee of three ministers to look into the issue. “We are serious about regulating the way petrol vehicles are being converted into CNG vehicles in the state.

As of now, there is no official mechanism to control the conversion process. The agencies engaged in the conversion are barely obtaining a municipal trade license and getting on with their business”, the source said. It added that the cabinet recently formed a committee involving the ministers of Finance, Transport and Revenue to figure out the mode of introducing legal provisions to regulate the conversion process.

The current avatar of the Motor Vehicles Act doesn’t specify anything in particular about the penalty amount for defaulting the tradition of converting vehicles into CNG ones as well, the source informed.

“We don’t have any way to figure out if the converted vehicles are fit for running on the streets as well. Usually, they have a three year life time after conversion. Who will find out if their latest condition is volatile or stable? We need a failsafe mechanism to study it”, it said.

Asked about the issue, a source in the Department of Revenue said that the operational Motor Vehicles Act doesn’t have any clear provision for conversion of petrol driven locomotives to CNG run vehicles. The ministerial committee formed on the issue would examine and give a final take on the issue by the next week, he said. The issue was reportedly raised at the last meeting of the state cabinet as well. On a different context, the authorities are now trying to relocate CNG filling stations from thickly populated residential areas like Radhanagar, Khayerpur, Badharghat etc.

“We can’t afford to have gas stations operating for most parts of the day in areas housing people in such large quantities”, the source said.