Bhubaneswar: Toll gates across Odisha will soon help the State Transport Authority (STA) in detecting vehicles lacking valid insurance.

The 22 toll gates on National Highways (NHs) passing through Odisha will start detecting vehicles having no valid insurance from February 1 this year.

The toll gates will detect vehicles plying without valid insurance through the e-detection application. The authorities will issue e-challans to the owners of such vehicles at the toll gates, said the STA in a statement today.

The STA has urged the people to make sure that their vehicles have the valid licence before February 1.

As per the Motor Vehicle Act, driving vehicles without valid insurance is illegal.

Driving a vehicle without a valid insurance will invite a penalty of Rs 2,000 for the first offence.

The fine for driving without insurance will be Rs 4,000 for the second offence. The driver may also face imprisonment for up to three months.

However, many vehicles in the state do not have valid licence. As a result, the road mishap victims are being deprived of the insurance money.

This has prompted the STA to ask the toll gates to detect vehicles without valid licence thorough the e-detection application.

Earlier, the toll gates were helping the authorities in detecting vehicles lacking valid documents like fitness and pollution under control certificates.