DTO Dimapur generates Rs 42 crore in 2023

The district transport office here generated revenue of more than Rs 42 crore in 2023. These figures included the newly-created districts of Chumoukedima and Nuiland, besides Dimapur.

Disclosing this to Nagaland Post, district transport Officer (DTO) Bendang Longkumar mentioned that 40-50 vehicles were registered every day. He said the increase in the number of vehicle registration every year was contributing to the rise in revenue, adding that registration in Nagaland was popular due to lower taxes, which positively impacted the state’s revenue.

As the tax rate in Nagaland was lower than other states, he acknowledged that vehicle owners from other states were attracted to come to the state for registration.
He revealed that his office received an average of 10 to 15 out-of-state registration vehicles every day for conversion to Nagaland registration.

From June 1 this year, he said the percentage for one-time registration had been enhanced for two wheelers and Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) from 5% to 6%, including road tax which was 0.5%.
He claimed that the Transport Department formulated policies keeping the interests of both the government and the citizens.

On the issue scooty taxi permit in the district, Longkumar revealed that the first 200 allotment for scooty taxi permits across the three districts had been exhausted. He said the majority of the applicants were from Dimapur district.

He mentioned that the department had sought government approval to issue more scooty permits for the three districts. Unlike other commercial vehicles, he pointed out that the scooty had a fixed number and licences could not be issued without the government consent. He said the rule had been implemented for other commercial vehicles too but was currently on hold, though this would be enforced soon.

He clarified that there was no directive from the central authority regarding limitations on private vehicle. However for commercial vehicles, especially auto rickshaws, there was restriction.
Stating that the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) closely monitored the issuance of permits, he said due to increase in the number of auto rickshaws, the RTA was authorised to issue a maximum of 50 permits per month.

The DTO said the validity of permit for private vehicles was 15 years. But, since the state lacked a scrapping policy, he mentioned that the permits were renewed after 15 years on payment of Rs 5,010.
The official scrapping policy is 10 years for diesel vehicle and 15 for petrol vehicles. However, this policy has not been implemented in Nagaland.

He said government vehicles were subject to the scrapping policy, which was implemented last year. As a result, any government vehicle older than 15 years could not be reassigned, he pointed out.

He mentioned that many pre-owned cars dealers did not obtain licence, which they were supposed to get from the Transport Department upon payment of Rs 25,000, which had to be renewed every year.
Maintaining that this registration was beneficial for both the dealers and their customers, he claimed that so far no one had come for registration, while encouraging the pre-owned car dealers to complete their registration to avoid business liabilities.

He acknowledged that the current nine enforcement staff made it difficult for the department, if not impossible, to cover the three districts. He disclosed that even in the department meetings, the matter had been discussed and the need to increase the staff in order to execute the work effectively.

Due to manpower issues, he admitted that it was often difficult to address the grievances of the general public. “However, despite having few staff, we strive to serve the public to the best of our abilities,” he claimed.

Stating that road safety measures were usually conducted from January to February, Longkumar pointed out that various activities such as painting competitions and awareness campaigns on hazardous vehicles were conducted in collaboration with Indian Oil Corporation depot in all the three districts this year. He said the department had also distributed banners, pamphlets and conducted mobile checks to sensitise the public.