Over 2.5 mn vehicles registered in Maharashtra in '23; 7.91% rise in a year

More than 25 lakh new vehicles hit the roads of Maharashtra in 2023, taking the number of digitally registered vehicles to 3.58 crore, an official said on Monday.

As per the data shared by the state transport department, 25,63,491 new vehicles were registered in Maharashtra in 2023, compared to 23,74,591 registered the previous year, registering a growth of 7.91 per cent.

At least 23.74 lakh vehicles were registered in Maharashtra in 2022 compared to 19.23 lakh in 2019, seeing a 23.46 per cent rise in registration, it said.

Interestingly, the data revealed that among the new vehicles registered last year, nearly 17.61 lakh were two-wheelers.

Of the 25.63 lakh new vehicles, more than seven lakh were registered during the festival season between October and December, as per the data.

At least 2.42 lakh vehicles were registered in October, followed by 3.05 lakh in November and 2.29 lakh in December, it stated.

Among the vehicles registered last year, 2.45 lakh were commercial vehicles (with yellow number plates), 17.61 lakh were two-wheelers, 4.33 lakh cars, and more than 80,000 were tractors.

At least 17.88 lakh new vehicles were petrol-run, followed by 2.99 lakh diesel-run and 1.94 lakh electric vehicles, the data stated.

In Mumbai, 66,873 vehicles were registered at Tardeo RTO, 66,692 at Wadala, 64,766 at Borivali, and 55,967 at Andheri, while 1.12 lakh new vehicles were registered at Thane RTO.

Interestingly, the total number of vehicles registered at the Pune RTO was higher than the four RTO offices in Mumbai.

According to the experts and former RTO officials, the registration of more than 25 lakh vehicles in the state and more than 2.5 lakh vehicles in Mumbai and Pune in a year shows the failure of public transport and could cause more congestion and accidents if the issue is not addressed immediately.

The addition of such a huge number of vehicles will make the transport situation "critical," Mumbai-based activist A V Shenoy said.

"Issues such as parking, congestion, pollution, and accidents are going to become critical," he said, adding that the government should devise a plan to tackle the situation.

The state government should focus on improving public transport with last-mile connectivity, retired deputy RTO Sanjay Sasane.

RTO officials also pointed out the recent long traffic snarl on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway during the Christmas weekend, when more than 55,000 vehicles crossed the Khandala Ghat section, compared to the normal 21,000 vehicles as per the police.