Registration of two-wheelers in the lead up to the new financial year has soared in two Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) and seven Sub Regional Transport Offices in the district in view of the revised road tax regime, which is set to come into force from Wednesday.
The State budget increased the road tax for two-wheelers priced up to Rs. 1 lakh from the present 6 per cent to 8 per cent whereas for those priced between Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 2 lakh, it will be 10 per cent instead of the present 8 per cent, which had so far been applicable to all two-wheelers above Rs. 1 lakh without any ceiling.
For two-wheelers priced above Rs. 2 lakh, the budget introduced a whole new road tax slab of 20 per cent. Motor Vehicle Department officials, therefore, found the spurt in registration towards the end of the 2014-15 financial year quite unsurprising.
They justified the revised tax, arguing that the almost similar rates for scooter priced at Rs. 50,000 and superbikes worth lakhs were unjust.
Even before the new tax rates were announced, two-wheelers accounted for the great majority of vehicles registered in the RTOs and sub RTOs in the district.
The surge has further increased it.
Of the 2,000-3,000 vehicles registered at the Ernakulam RTO in a month, 60-70 per cent was two-wheelers whereas it was 65-70 per cent of the 800-odd vehicles registered at the Muvattupuzha RTO in a month.
It was no different at the five Sub RTOs under the Ernakulam RTO.
Officials at the Tripunithura Sub RTO, where almost 80 per cent of the 1,500-2,000 vehicles registered in a month were two-wheelers, said the number of two wheelers produced for registration on a day has almost doubled.
In Aluva Sub RTO, out of the 1,000-1,200 vehicles registered, about 75 per cent were two-wheelers whereas it is almost 90 per cent of the 800-850 vehicles registered at the Mattancherry Sub RTO.
The figure is almost 80 per cent of the 40-45 vehicles and about 800 vehicles registered respectively at North Paravur and Angamaly Sub RTOs.
Two-wheelers account for about 70 per cent of the 500-600 vehicles and 400-odd vehicles registered at Perumbavur and Kothamangalam Sub RTOs under the Muvattupuzha RTO.
