Families in Kolhapur village use special vehicle numbers as identity
Close to 75 per cent of residents in Prayag Chikhali have adopted the trend of using specific registration numbers.
Residents of Prayag Chikhali, a village in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district, use specific vehicle registration numbers to identify their families, according to a report by The Indian Express.
The village of approximately 10,000 people has seen this trend grow for over three decades. Sarpanch Rohit Patil said close to 75 per cent of residents have adopted the practice, which he described as using "branded numbers."
Patil, who works as a clerk at Gokul Dairy, noted that residents often book a desired number with the RTO before purchasing a vehicle. He said people spend between Rs 5,000 and Rs 50,000 to secure their chosen numbers.
The trend was reportedly started by local farmer and politician Pandurang Yadav, who took the number 7777 for his first vehicle in 1990. Local resident Baburao Patil said that seeing a specific number plate allows people to know which family a person belongs to.
Deputy Regional Transport Officer Manoj Gajannan Otari said the Kolhapur RTO holds auctions for special numbers when multiple applicants apply for the same one. He noted that numbers adding up to 9 are popular because Kolhapur registrations start with MH09.
RTO Sanjeev Bhor said that while city residents often opt for numbers like 1 or 1000, Chikhali residents use numbers as a family tradition and status symbol.