Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta has written to Chief Minister Atishi demanding establishment of new fitness centres to address the difficulties faced by commercial vehicle owners in obtaining fitness certificates.

In his letter addressed to the Chief Minister, Gupta pointed out that the city has only one fitness centre for commercial vehicles, leading to significant inconvenience for lakhs of drivers.

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He informed that a delegation from the commercial vehicle drivers’ association had drawn his attention to the hardships faced by lakhs of drivers in the national capital.

Gupta asserted that due to a new transport rule implemented on 1^st October, mandating that all commercial vehicles, including heavy, medium, and light goods and passenger vehicles, undergo fitness testing exclusively through automated testing, the manual fitness testing facility at Burari was shut down. As a result, the Jhuljhuli centre remains the only automated testing facility for commercial vehicle owners.

The Leader of Opposition claimed that the Jhuljhuli fitness centre sees an influx of 500 vehicles daily but is able to inspect only 200 vehicles.

“The high volume of vehicles has led to appointment delays of nearly a month, which is causing the backlog to grow. This situation is adversely affecting the regular operation of vehicles, severely impacting the livelihoods of vehicle owners. Additionally, the increasing wait times have created opportunities for misconduct and corruption among officials, further burdening vehicle drivers,” he said.

Gupta said that alternative arrangements should have been in place before shutting down the fitness testing facility in Burari.

He urged the Chief Minister to address the challenges faced by lakhs of commercial vehicle drivers in Delhi by immediately establishing new fitness centres equipped with automated testing facilities.