Mangalore: Vehicle Registration Racket - RTA Sets Sep 30 Deadline for Offenders
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (PS/VD)
Mangalore, Sep 3: In connection to the recent vehicle registration racket unearthed in the city, on which Daijiworld had carried a special report in these columns, offenders have now been asked by the Regional Transport Authority to pay due taxes to the state government before September 30, failing which they may have to surrender their vehicles.
Of late, vehicle owners have been in registering their vehicles in states like Pondicherry, Kerala and others with an intention to evade tax payable to the state government, as the taxes in these states are much lower than in Karnataka. Mangalore regional transport officer C Mallikarjuna has now taken strict action to bring the violaters to book.
At a press conference held in the city on Saturday September 3, he said that the issue was a major one. The owners of such vehicles have been alerted and asked to pay the due tax to the state government before September 30, 2011. Failure of the same may lead to seizure of the vehicles from October 1 onwards, he added.
Though one has the right to register his vehicle in any state in the country, he is permitted to use that vehicle in other states only up to six months. But, in these cases, there are about 80 vehicles, mainly expensive ones like BMW, Porche, Benz and Audi cars, which have been running in the city beyond this time limit, he said.
Speaking further on other issues he said that the Mangalore RTO has achieved a royalty collection (as of March 31 2011) of Rs 94 crore as against the target of Rs 80 crore. As of March 31, 2011, 2,01,050 two-wheelers have been registered of which 63,075 are light vehicles and 60,660 transport vehicles.
For the year 2011-2012, the royalty collection target is set at Rs 101 crore, he said.
For the efficient handling of the process involved in issuing driving licenses, per day in all (including two wheelers, light and heavy vehicles) 120 applications will be handled. More applications will be handled next day on first come first serve basis.
Speaking on school children being overloaded in auto-rickshaws, he said that if the passenger limit is crossed, the person responsible will have to face the consequences. Auto rickshaws registered before April 1, 2000, if adopted with a new 4 stroke method with LPG fit instead of their existing 2 stroke, they have the privilege to obtain Rs 15000 subsidy, he stated. For that the government has already set aside a fund of Rs 1 crore, he added.
In response to a query on corruption in RTO office Mangalore wherein officials deny issuing licence if the vehicle users come directly without the help of agents, he said that the public should not let it happen. If the public refuses to pay bribe, then the issue is solved by itself, he stated and said complaints could be given to him on such cases.
To another query regarding bus owners not operating their buses on certain routes though they have been given permits, he said that their permits will be cancelled if the same issue comes to their notice and KSRTC bus service would be resumed on such routes.