LAHORE, Dec 13: Aluminum plates bearing registration number of vehicles will be introduced in six Punjab districts next month. Earlier, such plates were introduced in Lahore in September.

Punjab Excise and Taxation Department Director Masoodul Haq said this at a meeting of the Lahore Civic Forum on Wednesday with forum president Inayatullah in the chair. The new districts included Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Gujranwala and Nankana Sahib.

Mr Haq said the new plates were standardised hot stamped plates with many security features, which could not be tempered by any car thieves. The launch of aluminum plates in Lahore had been a success, so the government had decided to introduce the scheme in other districts as well, he said.

He said that all old registration plates in the city would be replaced with the new ones in a second phase starting from next year.

He said that under the Motor Vehicles Ordinance of 1965 running a vehicle without a registration plates was an offence and those who displayed “Applied for” were liable to a fine under the ordinance. He said that the Excise Department registered a vehicle and issued its registration number immediately on receiving an application from the vehicle’s owner. However, many owners ran their vehicles without a registration number plate awaiting registration numbers of their choice. “There are many owners who want to get registration numbers in 2007 and have been plying their vehicles for the past may months illegally.” Most of these vehicles were owned by police official, he added.

Mr Haq said during the last financial year of 2005-06, the Excise and Taxation Department registered 76,000 cars and 109,000 motorcycles.