Hindustan Times (Delhi)

From Oct 1, apply online to get driving licences

- Sweta Goswami sweta.goswami@hindustant­imes.com

EASY ACCESS All regional transport office in Delhi to shift to online applicatio­n services

NEWDELHI: From October 1, queues at motor licensing offices and regional transport office (RTOS) are going to thin as the Delhi government has decided to put the entire process of getting a driving licence (except appearing for the tests) online.

State transport minister Kailash Gahlot said this will make Delhi the first state in the country where all RTOS will completely shift applicatio­n services online. At present, RTOS across the country primarily accept applicatio­ns manually, despite having an online centralise­d software built by the Central government.

“From October 1, all the 13 licensing offices of Delhi will be declared as ‘E-RTOS’. This means applicatio­ns for about 11 transport related services — like obtaining a learner’s or permanent driving licence or getting a registrati­on certificat­e — will have to be applied for on the website of the transport department. No paper or manual applicatio­ns will be accepted,” he said.

Gahlot said this would also help prevent corruption in these offices as only electronic transactio­ns and no cash deposits will be allowed. This comes days after the transport department stumbled upon a possible racket where as many as 42 driving licences were illegally issued from a single RTO in a week’s time. The applicatio­ns that were submitted manually are also missing from the department’s files, a preliminar­y inquiry in the case so far has revealed.

For those who are unable to fill a form or pay the fee online, the Delhi government has also kept options under the doorstep delivery of service scheme in which an applicant only needs to call 1076 and a facilitato­r will visit his/her house to fill forms and collect documents.

“We have also opened helpdesks at RTO across the city to help those who are unable to apply on their own. The officials at these helpdesks will fill forms and perform online transactio­ns. Until now, the department has

From Oct 1, only online applicatio­ns to be accepted for transport related works These include applying for learner’s licence, driving licence, registrati­on certificat­es and renewals

Documents to be uploaded online. Payment to be made online too been using a local software for driving licenses. Now, we have synced everything with the Centre’s SAARTHI software which is a cloud-based system, thus helping in data sharing and analysis,” said Varsha Joshi, state transport commission­er.

For a driving licence, appointmen­ts for giving biometrics and the driving tests can be chosen from a list of two-hourly slots. But for registrati­on certificat­e related work, an applicant will be allowed to do a walk-in after filling all forms online.

“The best thing about this new system is that a person will be able to track his applicatio­n

2016 2017

Otherwise you can call 1076 and avail govt’s doorstep services scheme

Helpdesks set up at RTOS to help applicants fill forms, make payments online at a cost of ~60

Learner’s Permanent DL

is the website from where one can apply directly

online. Also, SMS alerts informing about the status of an applicatio­n will be sent to applicants at all stages,” said KK Dahiya, special commission­er (transport).

To test the responsive­ness of the RTOS to the new system, the Delhi government had introduced this E-RTO concept on pilot basis in two licensing offices at Vasant Vihar and Janakpuri. “The response was good, but many people filled the forms online and also came to the transport office to fill up paper forms. This led to duplicity. So, we decided to set up helpdesks and will launch an awareness campaign,” he said.

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