Diwali in top gear: Pune jams itself with 13,000 more bikes

Pune roads, which remain chock-a-block with an array of vehicles throughout the day, have further compounded their misery.

Pune roads, which remain chock-a-block with an array of vehicles throughout the day, have further compounded their misery. Courtesy, the festival of lights which has brought in 13,000 more vehicles — a staggering 10,000 of them being two-wheelers. The auspicious days of Diwali saw sales of two-wheelers touch an all-time high with all major players in the segment announcing maximum discounts and concessions as part of their marketing schemes.

According to RTO officials, two-wheeler sales were on a high for a month. As many as 9,653 two wheelers were sold since October 20. The delivery of these vehicles was taken by the buyers in the past five days or so. “The figure will easily cross 10,000 with the registration office opening on Monday and some outright purchases likely to be registered.”

A major chunk of the vehicles are two-wheelers. “The average daily registration of two wheelers in city is around 300. But in last five days of Diwali, the daily average has crossed 700. Compared to last year’s festive season, the registration of two wheelers is up by 30 per cent,” said officials. The rise in registration is mainly being attributed to the various concessions offered by major two wheeler players. The number of four wheelers registered during this festive season was 3,140.

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“Two-wheelers are the need of the hour in Pune. With poor public transport system, two-wheeler is a necessity,” says Prashant Bedekar, a resident of Satara Road, who bought a two-wheeler.

The second-hand two-wheeler market too is abuzz with activity. “The sale had gone up by 30-35 per cent in last five days. The demand for mobikes is on the rise,” said Munir Shaha who deals in second-hand two-wheelers.

It may be recalled that Pune Municipal Corporation is contemplating a new vehicle tax in view of the vehicular population which has reached a high of 24 lakh. The vehicle tax was existent in 1980s and after a State Government circular it was revoked.

The State Government offered an annual grant of Rs 6 crore to the municipal corporation as a substitute. However, by imposing the vehicle tax the PMC could get an additional annual revenue of Rs 50-70 crore and also discourage people from plying their vehicles on roads. PMC feels that the vehicular tax is one of the serious options to curb new vehicles coming on road.

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This Diwali, at least the sellers and buyers seem to have had a cracker of a time.