SMALL CARS SALE IN ASSAM BANNED

By D. Prasun (TNI Guwahati/Siliguri) ~ Edited By R. Subrata (TNI Siliguri)

Webdesk, TNI Guwahati, 21st August, 2015: Suddenly Assam has come in the top Business News in India. The state has become the first state of its kind in the country to ban the sale of small cars that don’t meet global safety requirements. The ban has come after an interim order from the Guwahati High Court while it was hearing a petition regarding the safety of automobiles in the state. According to an ET report, a Public Interest Litigation had said that crash tests like the Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP), should be applicable to cars sold in the state due to its hilly terrain roads in the state. The court on 26 June barred the sale of all cars that didn’t meet crash test norms, which effectively ended the sale of 140 models and now the transport authorities of the state have asked car dealers not to sell any vehicle which does not meet the crash-test norms. Among the NE states Assam records the highest small car sales among others. On the other hand, the death in road accidents by small cars has also increased hopingly. The Guwahati High Court’s order, while perhaps a tad too stringent given the absence of domestic regulation on car safety, does show the state and car makers what they should have done already. Car makers are expectedly unhappy over the development and will have to wait until the next hearing of the PIL on 27 August.