The number of new vehicles on Mysuru roads has gone up since the beginning of this year. Since January 10, the number of new vehicles brought for registration with the Transport Department here has gone up by 30% after a drop in registrations was reported in November-December last year.
On an average, 150 two-wheelers, 50 cars and 10 commercial transport vehicles were brought to the Regional Transport Office (West KA-09) for registration. The number may somewhat vary for RTO (East KA-55).
The rise in purchase of new vehicles has escalated the workload of the staff at the two RTOs. A fortnight or more is now required to get the registration certificate and number since only ARTO (in case of RTO West) has to authorise registrations giving biometric details each time for generating the number.
Speaking to The Hindu, Regional Transport Officer Anwar Pasha said the process of expediting issuance of certificate of registration for new vehicles has been initiated with the staff being asked to work a couple of hours more to clear the pendency.
There was problem a few months ago but now the system has been streamlined with about 15 days being taken to issue the certificates, he said.
But sources said issuance of registration certificates of vehicles is getting delayed with some owners, especially those who have bought two-wheelers, waiting since over one and half months to get smart registration cards and numbers for their vehicles.
“Without the registration certificate, I have restricted the use of my new bike only to my locality. It’s risky to ride without the registration number. The chances of traffic police penalising us for using unregistered vehicle,” said a self-employed youth from R K Nagar, who has bought a Rs one-lakh worth new motorcycle.
The delay in vehicle registrations has also led to some “technical” problem with the city traffic police taking objection to many vehicles plying on the roads without numbers.
When questioned, the vehicle owners cite delay in the issuance of numbers. This has perhaps prompted the RTO authorities to intervene and request the police not to fine the owners of new vehicles as the process of registration had been expedited.
As per the norms, unregistered vehicles were restricted from plying beyond certain limits. Temporary registration numbers were issued to ensure that the owners need not face problem in plying the vehicles until the registration certificates were issued.
However, with the temporary registration, the vehicles cannot ply beyond a certain limit as per the norm, the sources add.
Shortage of staff at the RTOs is cited as one of the reasons for the rise in the work load, coupled with the rise in the purchase of new vehicles.
