Money on the 'fancy' lane

Visakhapatnam, May 1 (UNI) The Andhra Pradesh Transport Department here is riding the crest of fancy number plate wave as it makes more money from those demanding special numbers for their vehicles.

Road Transport Authority Deputy Commissioner S Venkateswara Rao recounted to the UNI the case of a businessman who walked out with 'AP 999' by paying Rs 1.5 lakh.

''Though the initial bid was Rs 50,000, he grabbed the number by quoting Rs one lakh extra. It's a mad rush for fancy numbers. We are making more money by reserving several eye-catchy registration numbers. ''In the same registration series, 2345 fetched Rs 60,660 as against a minimum bid of Rs 10,000 while 2349 got Rs 35,388 where the lowest was Rs 5,000. ''AP31 AS789 fetched Rs 50,800, a whopping figure considering the minimum bid was Rs 10,000. ''It's the sentiment for which the people generally don't mind spending huge amounts in reserving fancy numbers before buying a new car,'' S Venkateswara Rao said.

During the last one year, the department earned Rs 1.59 crore from reserving the numbers. Of this, Rs 15 lakh was realised from auctions, he added.

According to the Section 39 of Motor Vehicles Act, fancy numbers are to be auctioned if there is more than one claimant. The number, thus, is blocked in favour of the highest bidder, he said.

UNI