The state’s online lottery for 59,309 auto rickshaw permits took place yesterday at all the RTOs in the state. In Pune, though, transparency in the computersied process went for a toss, with agents cutting illegal deals outside the regional transport office (RTO) to sell permits — which were supposed to be handed out transparently, with a software picking out applicants’ names.

Fingers crossed: Auto rickshaw drivers and other applicants watch live streaming of the permits lottery at the Pune RTO yesterday. Pic/Mohan Patil

Deals were being struck openly between existent permit holders and agents with political backing for as high as Rs 1,00,000 for a five-year permit, sources said. In fact, mid-day learnt that there has been a veritable auction going on for the past week.

An agent in business told mid-day on the condition of anonymity, “Earlier the rate of selling or renting your auto rickshaw permit for five years was Rs 80,000. It has now gone up to Rs 1 lakh. The bidding is going on all over the RTO premises for the past one week.”

He added, “Agents, old permit-holders and applicants who already have permits have applied for a new one.”

Talking about political muscle, he said, “Most of the applicants are relatives of political leaders in the city and have applied under different names to get a maximum number of permits through the lottery system.

Due to this the process, in which the selection of names is computerised, it is impossible to cheat to get the permits,” he added.