Owners of an estimated 70 lakh vehicles in the 10 districts of Telangana will have to wait to know whether they have to entirely change the number plates or not from June 2, the appointed day when Telangana comes into existence.
Senior officials said that as far as the new registration series for Telangana denoted by ‘TG’ was concerned, they were awaiting the nod for an ‘alphabet notification’ from the Ministry of Surface Transport. The proposal has already been sent to this effect. Once that comes, it would mean that all registrations post-June 2 would have the new series ‘TG’, but a decision about the number plates of existing vehicles has to be taken by the new government, they stated, categorically.
Already, there has been a certain degree of consternation among people about the irritant of going in for the new high-security number plates and now with the changes that would soon be notified, it would only be compounded. If the government decides to change the registration numbers for the existing vehicles plying in Telangana too, it would add to the confusion, some officials felt.
The Transport Department has registered a portal www.tgtransport.gov.in that would be up and running from June 2. “We have nothing to do except wait for the notification. Whether people have to change their number plates spending a few hundreds of rupees or not, remains to be seen. But from June 2, all vehicles in Telangana will carry the alphabets TG,” a senior official said.
Asked about what would happen when the proposals to double the number of districts in Telangana were approved, he said it would not be a problem at all. “For example Adilabad, that will TG-01 will get another series once the number of registrations cross the prescribed limit. So for now, from June 2, it will be TG-01 to 10 for the new registrations,” he said.
