Noida RTO generates highest revenue in state for first time in 3 decades

For the first time since the Noida Regional Transport Office (RTO) was formed in 1993, it has generated the highest annual revenue among all 75 districts in the state, officials said on Thursday, adding the Noida RTO earned ₹496 crore in the 2021-22 fiscal, achieving 89

For the first time since the Noida Regional Transport Office (RTO) was formed in 1993, it has generated the highest annual revenue among all 75 districts in the state, officials said on Thursday, adding the Noida RTO earned ₹496 crore in the 2021-22 fiscal, achieving 89.7% of its revenue target of ₹553 crore.

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Noida was followed by Mirzapur, which met 79.5% of its target and Lucknow, which met 79.51% of the target. Meanwhile, neighbouring Ghaziabad was at the 20th spot with 74.17% of its target achieved. (Details of the amounts each RTO earned were not available).

Overall, Meerut zone (comprising Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Baghpat) has topped the charts this year, having met 78.36% of its target, officials said.

Details of Noida RTO’s revenue for last year were unavailable, they added.

According to officials, Noida RTO earned the maximum revenue in the financial year in March, just before the fiscal ended-- ₹75.89 crore, exceeding the target of ₹47.05 crore.

“We usually increase enforcement during March and additional drives are conducted to check commercial vehicles. With schools reopening from this March and public transport picking up after Covid-related curbs were lifted, there was also strict checking of all private bus operators and school buses. Many vehicle owners were penalised due to shortcomings,” said AK Pandey, additional regional transport officer.

He added that many buses had been parked for over a year due to pandemic-related restrictions and had not been used in a long time. While several buses needed to renew their permits, others needed physical maintenance. The major sources of revenue include registration of new vehicles, taxes and fees for various services as well as penalties during enforcement drives.

Officials said that targets vary for the districts based on a projection of their capacity to generate revenue. While the smaller districts are given a smaller target, bigger districts have to generate more revenue.

“New vehicle registrations give the maximum revenue. During Covid, nearly all districts were hit badly as not many cars were bought, especially in the smaller districts. However, with better living standards in Noida, we were able to pull through because vehicle sales didn’t dip much despite the pandemic,” said Pandey.