Transport department officials say heavy financial losses suffered by farmers have prohibited them from purchasing vehicles for commercial and personnel use, resulting in a dip in registration
Officials of the State Transport Department claimed that apart from inducing agrarian crisis in the state, the drought took its toll on the sale and registration of vehicles too. Explaining this equation, sources from the department claimed that heavy financial losses induced by the drought prohibited farmers from purchasing vehicles like tractors, commercial and private vehicles, thus affecting the overall sale and registration of vehicles in the state.
Officials of the State Transport Department said the drought has affected sale of vehicles in the state. Representation pic
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Transport Commissioner V N More said, “Sale of commercial vehicles, especially in rural areas, have been hit by drought. Even the sale of motorcycles, which is normally more in rural areas, have come down.” In the financial year 2011-12, some 18.50 lakh vehicles were registered in the state. But the number dropped to 18.35 lakh for the bygone fiscal year. Besides drought, economic slowdown coupled with spiralling petrol and diesel prices also hit the sale of vehicles hard.
A whopping irony
Though the sale of vehicles dipped, earnings of the transport department have gone up. RTOs across the state collectively surpassed the set target of about Rs 4,200 crore by a whopping Rs 775 crore, which is a growth of around 18 per cent. Officials claimed that hike in motor tax rates, especially on high-end cars and SUVs running on petrol and diesel, led to increase in the collection.
Did you know?
Vidarbha and Marathwada are the worst drought-hit regions in the state.
Over 250 Mercedes and BMWs were sold in Aurangabad and the nearby districts in 2010-11
Registrations on Gudi Padwa
Tardeo RTO: 97
Andheri RTO: 427
Wadala RTO: 303u00a0
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