Bhubaneswar, Oct 4 (PTI) The Odisha government has earned over Rs 5 crore from the online auction of fancy registration number and advance registration number booking of vehicles in the first six months of this fiscal, an official of the State Transport Authority (STA) said on Friday.

The auction of fancy numbers fetched Rs 1.07 crore from 338 vehicle owners and advance booking of vehicle registration numbers garnered Rs 4.38 crore from 5,389 people, the official said.

"There is a craze among the car owners for getting registration numbers bearing '0001'," he said.

The registration number 'OD02 BD 0001' collected Rs 1.11 lakh for the RTO-1, Bhubaneswar, while another car owner paid Rs 1.04 lakh to get the 'OD02 AT 0001' number, the official pointed out.

When contacted, the owners of cars bearing the number '0001', said they consider it lucky.

"My old car also has the same number. Therefore, I decided to spend more than Rs 1 lakh for the magic number again," said a car owner.

The Transport Department had introduced online auction of fancy registration number and advance registration number booking system in June 2016.

Anyone intending to participate in the online auction will have to register his/her name and select the choice of number during the bid registration period from the 1st to the 7th of each month.

The online bidding is open from the 8th to the 15th of the month and the highest bidder is allotted the number, the official said.

Meanwhile, online auction is now available for 61 notified numbers in four categories.

The owners can book their choice apart from the fancy numbers in advance throughout the month on a first-come first-serve basis for Rs 5,000 for two-wheelers, and Rs 10,000 for vehicles other than two-wheelers, the official added. PTI

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