PESHAWAR, July 31: The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prefer to get Islamabad's registration numbers for their newly bought cars to avoid 'inconvenience' at checkpoints in the federal capital and Punjab province, according to market sources.

Officials at excise and taxation department said that the trend was causing huge financial losses to provincial exchequer. They admitted that first choice of local buyers was obtaining Islamabad number plates for their vehicles.

“Most of the buyers now want to get Islamabad number plates for their vehicles particularly for cars because there is perception that vehicle bearing local registration numbers get tough time at the hands of Islamabad and Punjab police,” said an official at taxation department.

Dealers in the provincial capital said that another reason of the trend was that majority of the owners believed that vehicles lost market value after fixing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa number plates on them. Whereas for many buyers vehicle with Islamabad number plate was a status symbol, they added.

Authorised dealers of major motor manufacturing companies in Peshawar said that 50 to 70 per cent of the buyers avoided getting number plates of the province for their vehicles keeping in view resale of their cars and “attitude of the capital police.”

Officials said that since Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas had become frontline regions in the war against terrorism, capital police and other law enforcement agencies suspected vehicles bearing regional number plates.

“Police in Islamabad stop vehicles bearing KPK number plates for unnecessary checking and mete out rough treatment to the passengers, therefore owners opt for Islamabad's number plates,” said an official.

Official statistics also substantiate slight decline in the registration of new cars with the provincial excise and taxation department.

According to the official, the number of new vehicles registered from the start of January to the end of June this year recorded decline as compared to the number of vehicles registered during the same period last year. Officials said that provincial kitty was losing significant amount in the head of registration of new vehicles and annual token tax since local buyers had been applying for Islamabad number plates.

The department, however, has yet to carry out survey to calculate the losses.

The provincial government receives one per cent tax on a car up to1300cc, two per cent on 1,300cc to 2500cc and four per cent on above 2500cc car apart from other taxes.

The car dealers said that officials in excise and taxation department, motor registering authority Islamabad while taking advantage of the situation were making fortune through illegal means.

“For example provincial excise and taxation department receives around Rs35,000 including registration fee and other taxes on 1300cc car while buyers have to pay Rs65,000 for the same make and model in Islamabad,” they said.

They said that nonresidents were not allowed to get capital territory number plates for their cars. They said that agents in the motor registering authority in Islamabad through illegal means were facilitating nonresidents to get federal territory's number plates.