Quite a taxing drive, this!
We’ve all read about the ongoing RTO drive to catch erring cars that are plying on the city’s roads without paying the necessary road tax. Good stuff, I tell you. And kudos to the RTO for being honest, ‘driven’ and committed to their efforts.
Having been one of these drivers to be caught (and subsequently made to pay a hefty amount for road tax), I do have a few questions. Not about the drive in particular, but about the nitty-gritty of the RTO rules. Let me explain the situation at first, though.
I have a Karnataka-registered car for which I have already paid Rs 70,000 in road tax to the Karnataka state. I have been using this car in Pune for about a year now and hence, it is necessary that I pay the road tax here as well especially since I intend to continue using it. That’s the crux of the matter as far as this drive goes.
What I cannot understand, however, is why the rules of depriciation are different for an insurance company and the RTO. Aren’t the two supposed to be working together? So while my insurance company depriciates the value of my car at 30 percent per annum (and ascertaining this figure as the value to decide the premium), the RTO only offered me 6-odd percent when deciding how much road tax I owed the state.
Had the RTO gone by the depriciated value as decided by the insurance company, I would have saved closr to Rs 14,000 on the road tax I paid to Maharashtra. Conversely, if the insurance company follows the same rules as the RTO, I stand to have better value for my car. As it stands, though, I am in a lose-lose situation.
The second part of my gripe is more a question. And I am not even going to talk about facilities and the general chaos that rules the RTO office at Sangam Bridge (Wellesley Road, Pune). Now that I have paid the road tax, and I do intend to change registration too and make the car absolutely ‘local’, can I question the RTO about its other activities (or the lack of it)?
Can the RTO show the same drive and determination in clamping down on errant auto rickshaws, trucks and buses? Can we have more vigilance on driving and talking on the mobile? Can we prevent people from jumping signals and using the wrong side of the road to save a few seconds? Or are these offenders too insignificant in the larger scheme of things?
Private bus company owners continue to flourish despire reports of failed initiatives by the RTO. Perhaps because a big name owns Neeta Travels who are absolutely ‘uncatchable’? In the name of revenue, the RTA has been undertaking various activities or drives, but all the time, the traffic situation in the city seems to be only worsening.
Once again, I would like to reiterate that the ongoing drive is good, being conducted fairly and honestly, but can we get the basics right?
Photos: Pune Mirror and Ivo.nu
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