Journalism of Courage
Registration of petrol-run vehicles at the Regional Transport Office has been dropping of late and the trend seemed to have accelerated after the hefty tax hike on petrol-powered vehicles on May 1. The steep hike in petrol price on May 24 is likely to make vehicle registration,a reflection of the number of vehicles sold,take a further plunge.
Registration of petrol-run light motor vehicles shows a drop in May by about 20 per cent from the April numbers. In May,the total number of light motor vehicles (LMVs) (two- and four-wheelers) registered was over 12,000 vehicles,against April figures of close to 15,000 vehicles.
Regional Transport Officer,Arun Yeola said,After the motor vehicle taxes for petrol,diesel and CNG vehicles were revised on May 1,we can see a sharp drop in purchase and hence registration of petrol-run vehicles in Pune. A nearly Rs 8 per litre hike in petrol price added to the trend. The basic idea behind a hike in petrol taxes was to promote CNG vehicles as taxes on them have been lowered. The effect is visible within this one month.
Another senior official from the RTO,Pune,said,While the effect of the petrol price hike is not very visible in terms of registrations now,unless there is a significant rollback on petrol prices,the downward spiral in registration of petrol vehicles will continue.
If the slide continues,the June figures are likely to be quite low compared to the March figure of 21,000.
The motor vehicle tax-a one-time tax to be paid at the time of purchase of the vehicle-is calculated on cost of the vehicle. For commercial vehicles there have been changes in the tax slab.
Earlier,on April 30,Newsline had reported a revision in motor vehicle taxes. For petrol vehicles costing up to Rs 10 lakh,one now has to pay a tax of nine per cent of the vehicle cost,instead of seven per cent. For vehicles costing between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh,the tax is 10 per cent of the vehicle cost and for those costing over Rs 20 lakh,the tax will be 11 per cent of the vehicle cost.
