KOLHAPUR: The Regional Transport Office (RTO) will soon begin to issue new auto-rickshaw permit in the city and rural areas of Kolhapur.This comes in the wake of the state government withdrawing its resolution dated November 26, 1997 banning new permits . The withdrawal came on June 17.Regional Transport Officer (RTO) D T Pawar on Wednesday said, the move will pave the way for fair competition among auto drivers.Pawar said, "The Centre in 1997 had instructed to stop issuing permits. The state government had then chalked out the resolution to stop issuing permits.""Now, however, we are free to issue to new permits to auto drivers. An applicant will require driving licence and badge issued by our office to apply for the permit. Also the applicant must have an autorickshaw with petrol engine, electronic metre for city areas and diesel engine for district permit," he informed."We have not received instructions regarding the new fees for permit number. As of now, we will charge as per the old motor vehicle rules," he added.However, auto-rickshaw unions in the city have raised questions on the new permits. President of Karveer Auto Union Subhash Shete said, "Autorickshaw is already a loss-making business in the city due to a large number of these vehicles in the city.Kolhapur has around 7,000 autorickshaws. New permits will make the issue much complicated. As per my knowledge, new permits require new autorickshaw. Therefore, the number of applicants for new permits is still under cloud

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