15m vehicle records in state to go digital

MUMBAI : The state’s attempt to digitise 15 million records of vehicles and driving licences may soon become a reality, after two failed attempts earlier.

The Maharashtra transport department is set to float another tender to appoint an agency that can get the job done. The task requires scanning and storing digital entries from almost 25 million physical pages.

Shekhar Channe, the transport commissioner of Maharashtra, said, “As the state government has given go-ahead for re-tendering, we will soon start the procedure.” The tender is likely to be floated by mid-december. In 2015 and 2017, technical issues and the backing out of the lowest bidder respectively led to the failure of digitising these records.

Officials said digitisation of physical records from 50 regional transport offices across the state, including four in Mumbai, would not only help with disseminating information more easily but also in taking stern action against repeat traffic violators through e-challans.it would also help police to retrieve details quickly in case of an accident or a crime.

An RTO official said it would save a lot of time, money and manpower in a department that is currently facing a severe staff crunch. “It will also free up a lot of space occupied by the records,” the official said.

Maharashtra has around 33 million vehicles and 34 million registered drivers. Even though the transport department started computerising its data in the 1990s, the project got impetus only by 2006.

Officials said although digitisation of all vehicles might not be necessary as old ones might have been scrapped, it must be carried out for driving licences because people who obtained one 50 years ago are still driving.