BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Government has earned a whopping Rs 11.24 crore revenue towards fancy and preferred vehicle registration numbers between October, 2020 and March 31 this year.
During the same period of last financial year between October, 2019 and March last year, the government had generated a revenue of Rs 6 crore.
In the last six months (October, 2020 to March, 2021), revenue from the auction of fancy numbers stood at Rs 1.18 crore and from advance booking of numbers Rs 10.06 crore was generated, said the State Transport Authority (STA) on Saturday.
After the introduction of auto assignment of registration numbers, 11,543 owners opted to book their choice of numbers which was only 5,562 during the same period of the last financial year. Bhubaneswar regional transport office (RTO) - I collected the highest revenue of Rs 2.81 crore, followed by Cuttack RTO that earned Rs 1.23 crore. During the auction process, a fancy number - OD 02 XX 0001 fetched the highest price of Rs 1.75 lakh.
STA had introduced the fancy number registration auction and advance registration number booking system via online since June, 2016.
“The vehicle owner intending to participate in this auction has to register his/her name and select the number during the bidding period in the first seven days of every month. Online bidding is opened from 8th to 15th each month and the highest bidder is allocated the number,” Transport Commissioner-cum-Chairman of State Transport Authority Sanjeeb Panda told TNIE.
The online auction is available for 61 notified numbers in four categories with base price ranging from Rs 1 lakh, Rs 60,000, Rs 40,000 and Rs 20,000 for each number.
Under the State Government’s 5T policy, STA had introduced the dealer point verification from October 6, 2020. Odisha was the first State in the country to implement paperless and contact less vehicle registration by introducing uploading of documents through digital signatures of the dealer.
NUMBER GAME
Between October, 2020 and March, 2021, revenue from auction of fancy numbers was Rs 1.18 crore.
Advance booking of numbers fetched Rs 10.06 crore.
11,543 vehicle owners opted to book their choice of numbers within the period.
Bhubaneswar RTO - I collected the highest revenue of Rs 2.81 crore.
Rs 1.23 crore earned by Cuttack RTO.
A fancy number -OD 02 XX 0001-fetched the highest Rs 1.75 lakh.