Date:05/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/08/05/stories/2005080504570200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

The `G' in private vehicles

R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI: Have you noticed the alphabet `G' in a corner of a number plate in some private vehicles? Or the `G' in the number plate painted in a different (generally yellow) colour?

Well, you do not have to notice it because it is not meant for you. One traffic cop claimed that it was for them to realise that the occupant is a government official. Sometimes these vehicles are actually owned by State-run corporations. But many RTOs refuse the `G' series for government corporations. Hence most of them take recourse to this so that they could be `identified.'

A better way for identification of government vehicles is done in many other States.

They actually carry the designation of the officer who has been assigned the vehicle. Though some Central Government institutions in Chennai follow this, State officials have so far not followed the Central lead.