Just two cars were going through technical support service (TSS) at enormous center

"We were fined for avoidance of mandatory TSS of a car even despite a date of TSS falls on May only", said a resident of Baku who received a text message on 50 manat fine. Her father received an identical text message for failure TSS. Note that the father was going to visit a Zabrat TSS center in summer as of a date shown on a nameplate a year ago at the same center. But now he was fined ...

An official of the Head Office of the Traffic Police (settlement Hyrdalan) familiarized himself with a complaint as saying to the author the article fines were lawful, because in accordance of the rules that took effect since January 2019, car owners must go through TSS exactly in a year or two (the latter depending upon a date of car manufacture) after a previous TSS,not as before when specific months were established for technical condition inspection depending upon a car model. When I told him that car owners were possibly unaware of new rules, the official objected as saying that mass media of the country provided extensive coverage about the innovation and that citizens should watch the news.

Note that during our conversation various citizens came up to the desk with the same complaints and received the same run-around replies.

Being aware of the number of cars in Baku and fine amounts for failure TSS (according to new rules), FED.AZ journalists found out that the state treasury is annually replenished of fines worth minimum 1,225, 000 manats. Should the traffic police notify car owners that TSS will be held in 10, 20 or 30 days, citizens would properly be informed and would not pay fines while the state treasury would not receive millions worth income. In the meanwhile, the traffic police inexplicably informs about fines, not about new rules ...

On march 7 the author of the publication arrived at Zabrat technical center under the traffic police to follow procedures of car inspection. There were just two cars at 9.00 a.m. to go through mandatory technical inspection. A watchman in civvies asked owners of the two cars if they intended to go through the whole procedure or "in another way?"

Two sleepy TSS workers seemed to be surprised at the cars. All that was happening at an enormous and empty hall designed for simultaneous operations of 12 processing lines of TSS operations. One of the workers had to admit that cars were lacking due to the fact that drivers prefer to buy a TSS certificate at filling stations. A day before my acquaintance told me that he "underwent TSS" for 70 manats without leaving home by means of a jobber.

" We are sometimes forced to stay overnight here as if we work tirelessly. But you see that the hall is empty", bitterly added the worker. His current wage is 160 manats due to the recent minimum wage increase, he told me in reply to my remark of corruption during technical inspections.

Truth of these conclusions found endorsement in the Turan article "Azerbaijan needs technical centers". (http://www.contact.az/ext/news/2018/11/free/Social/ru/76878.htm).

Our publication set an aim to substantiate the necessity of granting the right to private repair shops to carry out TSS after certification at the traffic police. In this case the drivers will be able to conduct technical inspections near places of residence but decline from purchasing illegal TSS nameplates.

On March 7 in the course of talks with a worker of Zabrat center we asked him to express his opinion on this idea and heard his negative response. He opines that private technical centers will deliver TSS certificates regardless of car conditions but that car owners pay only.

Asked why clunkers ride on country"s roads in terms of the centralized TSS, the worker reminded his own words about swindlers at filling stations. Our interlocutor declined from responding our reply argument about obvious link between these swindlers and the state center in charge of TSS data base.

It should be remembered that workers of Zabrat technical center are engaged in inspecting on automatic stands the brake operations, purity of exhaust gas, regularity of headlight arrangement and availability of a first aid box, fire extinguisher and illuminated triangle. I witnessed that a deputy head of Zabrat center (room # 3) sent two car owners to a pharmacy for renovation of left-over medicine from a first aid box. In spite of the fact that stands revealed malfunction in headlights and brakes of Hyundai owned by citizen Kerim Bayramov (numberplate 99 XD 147), he was forced to buy new medicine for a first aid box.

According to new rules, the Technical Center has no right to decline from giving drivers a car operation license for defects cited above. Citizens receive a certificate on TSS (nameplate is not granted to stick under glass), this information is based, and a driver must arrive at the next TSS in his serviceable car.

The drivers had to pay 20 manats worth state tax. Thus, the two drivers paid jointly approx. 32 manats for medicine and left the Center of Vehicle Inspection of the traffic police.