The first four digits on a vehicle's license plate are not just numbers; they indicate the city of registration for the car. This raises the question of what will happen if a city registers so many vehicles that this identification code on the license plate needs to be changed.
Such a situation is approaching in Pune. The identifier for Pune on license plates will soon change. For approximately 37 years, cars in Pune have used the MH-12 code, and soon this code will become history as new cars will no longer receive plates with this code. It will be replaced by the MH-61 code.
The alphanumeric combinations in the Pune RTO are exhausted. According to officials, all 9999 numbers of the last series ZZ under the MH-12 code were used this week. Following this, the RTO is preparing to start registration using the new MH-61 code.
An employee of the Transport Department reported that the registration of new cars under the MH-61 code will begin on Monday. Currently, the National Information Centre (NIC) system is undergoing backend testing.
Before public registration begins, applications for stylish number plates have been accepted. Vehicle owners must pay an additional fee for these special plates. After the process of issuing stylish plates is complete, registrations for regular cars under the new MH-61 code will commence.
The Pune RTO currently has over 44.88 million active registered vehicles. According to RTO officials, most of these active vehicles were registered after 2011. Before that time, most registered cars were either scrapped or transferred to other districts.
The MH-12 code has been used for registering vehicles in Pune since July 1, 1989, meaning the connection between MH-12 and Pune vehicles has lasted for 37 years. According to the national vehicle registration format, the first two digits of the license plate indicate the state, and the next two indicate the RTO code. This is followed by a maximum of two letters, and then a unique identification number. Within this system, more than 59 million registration numbers can be created using alphanumeric combinations, excluding the letters I and O. However, this number has been exceeded in Pune.