A garage in the city. Picture by U.B. Photos

Oct. 27: The state transport department’s novel move to generate jobs for industrial training institute (ITI) diploma holders in garages and workshops has failed to take off in the city.

The government had laid out certain rules to be followed by a garage owner while employing his workers.

According to the rules, garages having the capacity to repair eight or more vehicles and builders having the capacity to build bodies of four or more vehicles at a time would have to employ ITI diploma holders separately for each job like fitter, welder, carpenter and the like. As for other garages, the owner has to appoint one ITI-pass mechanic for repair of vehicles.

Talking to The Telegraph, district transport officer Kumud Gogoi said the response to the government rules has been very poor. “The move, a first of its kind, was aimed at generating employment and providing quality service by making garages and workshops accountable. But apart from the 38 authorised dealers, the response leaves a lot to be desired,” he said. The official order had stipulated that no person other than qualified technicians would repair any kind of vehicle and construct bodies of vehicles.

According to Gogoi, they had issued 123 forms (No 23) of the 500 provided by the government. But till date, the applicants are yet to return them. Similar has been the case with issuance of forms for motor driving schools. The district transport office had issued 27 forms, but none has been returned so far.

Seeking to set things right, Gogoi today issued a memorandum to motor vehicle inspectors to collect information about the number of garages and workshops in the city, their infrastructure, type and manpower strength within November.

“Once we get the preliminary data, we will submit these to the government for its perusal and necessary action. We are only the licensing authority. For success of the scheme a lot depends on the enforcement agencies,” Gogoi said. He was also of the opinion that a thorough survey and an awareness drive were required to clear misconceptions about the scheme.

Reacting to the issue, a garage-owner in the Ulubari area said the move would sound the knell for most of the small garage owners. “It is not practical. Instead of targeting us, they should have targeted the dealers. How much will we pay an ITI pass mechanic?” one of the garage owners asked.

The official notification issued on March 20 had made it mandatory for people involved in motor vehicle-related businesses to submit names and qualifications of its employees at the time of applying for a fresh trade licences or renewal of an old one. The move was to ensure that qualified technicians are employed and covered all motor vehicle repairing centres, body builders, weigh-bridges and dealers. As per the official notification, the licence and renewal fees for five years are as follow: For a dealer of two-wheelers Rs 1,300, for three-wheelers Rs 2,600, for light vehicles Rs 6,500 and heavy vehicles Rs 10,000. Repairing shop for three-wheelers Rs 260, light vehicles Rs 650, heavy vehicles Rs 1,300. For all vehicle body builders and weigh-bridges Rs 2,600.