A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed Friday between Nagaland government (Department of Transport), Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) and International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) for setting up a pilot project on Inspection and Certification (I&C) Centre at Chumukedima, Dimapur.
The centre would be set up at a cost of Rs. 14.4 crore, said ICAT project manager Ashish Kumar.
With the setting up of the centre, all “in-use” transport vehicles (commercial) would be inspected and certified for safety and emission compliance as per CMVR, 1989 would done at the I&C centre, he said.
The MoU was felicitated by Transport commissioner Elias T. Lotha while commissioner secretary Neihu C. Thur, joint secretary Ministry of Road Transport & Highways Abhay Damle and manager project (I&C-ICAT) Ashish Kumar signed the MoU on behalf of the state government, government of India and ICAT respectively at transport commissioner chamber, Kohima.
Kumar also said that Nagaland was listed in the second phase of the project.
For the first two years, MoRTH would be funding the equipments, technical services, automation software and networking, construction of building and establishment of utilities and cost of operation.
After the end of two years, the centre would be handed over to the state government where the department of transport would identify a suitable agency/private partner for operating the centre, he added.
Meanwhile, Elias T. Lotha said that the main objective in setting up I&C centre was to “save lives” and to avert accidents, check environmental pollution and vehicular emission.
Work on the centre is expected to complete by 10-12 months.
Under Memorandum of Understanding, fees for fitness tests would be charged as per existing rate, as prescribed under central motor vehicle rules 1989 and would be as per the present statutory provisions to the DoT’s account.
Sunday, June 21, 2026