Gandhinagar,  Owners of old vehicles in Gujarat will now be able to retain their old vehicle numbers after their scrapping, the state government informed on Monday.

The decision was taken after demands were raised seeking similar provisions effective in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Announcing the decision, state Transport Minister Purnesh Modi said, "After Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, considering the demands of applicants, Gujarat has also decided to implement vehicle number retention policy. The vehicle owners will now be able to retain their vehicle number twice as per this policy."

The retained number will be allocated to the newly-purchased vehicle, and a new number will be allocated to the old vehicle which has undergone transfer of ownership. In the case of scrapping the vehicle, the retained number will be allocated to the newly-purchase vehicle and another number will be given to the old vehicle that has been scrapped.

It is also mandatory that the ownership of the vehicle whose number is to be retained and the vehicle on which the number is to be retained belong to the same person.

The vehicle owner should have the ownership for a minimum of one year for retaining the number. The process of allocation of the retained number to the new vehicle should be completed within 15 days.

The Gujarat government has decided that the fees will be similar to the provisions of the fee decided for choice numbers in the state. For two wheelers, it will be Rs 8,000 for golden number, Rs 3,500 for silver number and Rs 2,000 for other numbers. For other vehicles, the fees will be Rs 40,000 for golden number, Rs 15,000 for silver and a minimum of Rs 8000 for other numbers.