Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Feb 5: There are 1,77,529 families in rural areas and 75,549 in urban areas of the district. As against a total of 2,53,078 families in the district, the total number of vehicles has crossed 4,90,179. Roughly, each of these families has two vehicles on average.

As per the 2011 census, Udupi district had a population of 11.75 lac. As per an estimate of the health and family welfare department, 1.25 lac people have been added to this number as at 2021. Every year, more than 15,000 vehicles get added to the existing numbers. As many as 9.5 lac people who are aged over 18 are eligible to drive vehicles.

 
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There has been demand from the people to open an assistant regional transport office (ARTO) in order to avoid the trouble for the people to come to Udupi from far off Kundapur and Byndoor taluks. The government has not considered this four-year-old demand.

At an annual average of 5,413 vehicles per year, 1,29,900 vehicles have been registered in Kundapur and Byndoor taluk limits. The region is eligible as per yardsticks for the allocation of the ARTO office. In the 31 districts of the state, there are already 70 RTO offices.

For opening of the ARTO office, density of vehicles and income are also taken into consideration. Licence renewal and other works are attended by the department at Hebri (first Saturday of the month), Kundapur (every Tuesday), Karkala (every Thursday, and Padubidri (third Saturday of the month). Regional transport officers and inspectors take part in this exercise.

Even though 36 posts have been allocated to the Udupi RTO including senior motor inspectors, motor vehicle inspectors, superintendent, first grade a assistants, second grade assistants, vehicle drivers, and group D employees, the office which brings over an annual  income of Rs 125 crore works with the skeletal staff strength of just 14.

Udupi district has 812 electric vehicles as per registration records. But there are no charging stations, and Mescom has been working to identify the spots to create charging stations. As of now, the owners charge their vehicles at home. Two of the electric vehicles were burnt down when riding and the companies are studying to find the actual reasons for these accidents.