Chandigarh, Dec. 13 -- Six years after the Union ministry of road transport and highways approved the city's first automated inspection and certification (I&C) centre for commercial vehicles that need evaluation after their prescribed lifespan of 15 years, the UT administration has set March 2026 as the fresh deadline for inspection. Coming up on around 3.5 acres in Raipur Kalan, the Rs.13.76 crore project had earlier missed its December 2023, March 2023, March 2024 and March 2025 deadlines. The Ministry had approved the project in October 2019. The initial deadline of December 2022 was missed due to late release of funds. Once operational, the facility will help check the roadworthiness of vehicles with zero human intervention. Besides other parameters, it will check emissions, tyres and indicators using the latest technology. A senior officer of state transport authority (STA said most of the work has been completed and the engineering department has assured that the facility will be ready by March 2026. "At present, a large number of old and ill-maintained vehicles ply on road, which contributes to the deterioration of air quality," he added. Another senior official said that at present, the registration of non-commercial and commercial vehicles is renewed after conducting a fitness test manually. Once the centre is set up, all commercial goods vehicles, taxis, and public and school buses will have to visit the new facility after the 15-year period and pay an evaluation fee between Rs.800 to Rs.2,000 per vehicle. "The centre will help the administration ensure that polluting and unworthy vehicles are off the roads," the official added. The Union ministry recently released Rs.5 crore to also set up a regional driving training centre (RDTC) at Raipur Kalan. Coming up on around four acres, the centre will help improve road safety and serve as a regional hub for training of driving instructors, offering refresher courses, periodic evaluation of Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) drivers, and help in assessing aspiring drivers using an innovative driving test system (IDTS)....