Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has earned more than Rs 5 crore from the online auction of fancy registration number and advance registration number booking of vehicles in the first six months of this fiscal, an official of the State Transport Authority (STA) said on Friday.
The state government earned Rs 5.45 crore from auction of fancy numbers (Rs 1.07 crore) from 338 people and advance booking of vehicle registration numbers (Rs 4.38 crore) from 5389 vehicle owners, the official said.
The Regional Transport Office (RTO), Bhubaneswar-I collected the highest revenue (Rs 1.04 crore) followed by RTO Cuttack (Rs 63 lakh) and ARTO Barbil (Rs 46 lakh).
The Transport Department had introduced online auction of fancy registration number and advance registration number booking system since June 2016.
Any person intending to participate in the online auction will have to register his/her name and select the choice of number during the bid registration period from the 1st to 7th of each month.
The online bidding is open from the 8th to 15th of the month and the highest bidder is allotted the number, the official said.
Meanwhile, the online auction is now available for 61 notified numbers in four categories.
The registration number 0001, 0009 will have a base price of Rs 1 lakh while the numbers like 0002, 0003, 0004, 0005, 0006, 0007, 0008, 0011, 0786, 1111, 1234, 7777, 9999 have a base price of Rs 60,000.
Similarly, the numbers like 1000, 2222, 3333, 4444, 5000, 5555, 6666, 7000, 8055, 8888, 9000 have base price fixed at Rs 40,000.
The numbers like 0010, 0012, 0022, 0033, 0055, 0066, 0070, 0077, 0090, 0099, 0100, 0101, 0111, 0123, 0222, 0333, 0555, 0707, 0777, 0909, 0999, 1001, 2000, 2020, 3000, 4000, 5050, 6000, 7007, 7700, 8000, 8008, 9009, 9090, 9900 have base price of Rs 20.000.
The owners can book choice numbers other than the fancy numbers in advance throughout the month on a first-come first-serve basis for Rs 5,000 for two-wheelers and Rs 10,000 for vehicles other than two-wheelers.
For both 'Auction' and 'Advance Booking' processes, the owner has to open 'Fancy Number Booking' link under 'Online Services' in https://parivahan.govin Website.
The successful bidder in case of auction and the owner with advance booking number shall have to produce the sale document along with the booking receipt for registration within 30 days of booking to the concerned registering authority for assignment of the vehicle number, the official added.