90% go online to apply for driving licences in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has witnessed a significant rise in online applications for permanent driving licence and learner licence. While nearly 17,000 people applied for the licence online only 1,000 people applied for the offline license in July this year. In the case of the learning licence, nearly 14,451 people applied offline and 18,344 people applied online.

“We started using the all India Saarthi 4 software of NIC in mid-2017. The figures for July 2018 are here. Online is increasing steadily in all RTOS and now exceeds offline almost everywhere,” tweeted Varsha Joshi, the secretary of the Transport Department. The Delhi government has started working to make all the services online and according to information, the online progress is also good, said an official. According to the data at Mall Road zone, online application of driving licence was 1,597 and the offline was only one. Similarly, at the Janakpuri, nearly 1,000 people applied for licence online but there is not a single offline application.

In a bid to ease the licensing process, Delhi government's transport department has also come up with a centralized facility at its headquarters in Civil Lines area to help the citizens get back their suspended driving licences. The new computerized facility will help reduce the time in getting back suspended licences by improving the coordination between the traffic police and the transport department, an official of the department said. An agency has been hired for manning the facility which will be rolled out soon,” he said. In the new system of suspension of driving

licences for various traffic violations, the transport department will immediately notify about a particular licence being seized by the traffic police.

A proper record management will be in place at the headquarters, including receipts of driving licences and also return them after the end of the suspension period, the officer said.

“Persons concerned can approach the transport department headquarters instead of going to zonal offices and there will be no chance of

licences getting misplaced during the suspension period,” he assured.