The Andhra Pradesh government had decided to give new registration numbers for all the government vehicles. The new number would be given to the vehicles purchased by the state government from now on.

The government had proposed to give AP 40G number for all the government vehicles henceforth. Accordingly, the government issued an order on Thursday proposing amendments to the first schedule under rule 80 of the AP Motor Vehicle Rules 1989.

The state government also issued GO M S No 14 on Thursday indicating the proposal to issue new registration numbers for the government vehicles.

The state government had been giving AP 39 registration numbers for all the vehicles in the state since 2018. This was as part of one state and one number policy adopted by the then government. Later, the government had proposed AP 18P registration number for the police vehicles in the state. This number too is being given to the police vehicles across the state.

Now, the new registration number would be given exclusively for the government vehicles purchased henceforth. However, the vehicles hired by the government would continue to have the other registration number.

Sources say that the decision to give a new registration number for the government vehicles was taken following complaints from the National Highways Authority of India. The NHAI had been complaining that vehicles with “Hired with Govt” or “On Hire With Govt” too are crossing the toll gates on the national highways without paying the toll fee.

There have been complaints from the toll plazas at Kaza on Guntur side, Keesara on Hyderabad side and Pottipadu on Visakhapatnam side which have more number of vehicles passing through the toll gate without paying the fee.

The new registration number would be classified at the toll plazas either to exempt the fee or charge. The hired vehicles have no toll fee exemption unless an officer with an exemption card is travelling. This would avoid the use of hired vehicles by the officials for private travel, the sources said.