‘Delhi 1st city to introduce ‘faceless services’, now other states taking cue’

New Delhi, June 2: chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the ‘Faceless Services’ that have benefitted 16 lakh people here was first launched in Delhi and now other states are also taking a cue from it and launching similar initiatives. The ‘faceless’ services’ of the transport department envisions providing contactless, queue-less and hassle-free services to applicants applying online and getting work done without visiting any of its office. He inspected the Sarai Kale Khan RTO and said it has Delhi’s first automated driving test track, which was built in 2018 and 12 other such tracks have been built all over Delhi since then.

Eight other automated tracks are in the process of being built, he said.

The chief minister said since the automated mechanism, the number of licences issued has gone down and around 50 per cent of the people have failed their driving test, pushing them to become better drivers in order to be able to earn a licence.

“Delhi is the first and only state in India to offer ‘Faceless Services’ which was kicked off through the Transport Department last year. I believe the ‘faceless services’ we have launched in Delhi are highly efficient and appreciable, and a first in the country,” he said.

Following the footsteps of Delhi’s model, other states, starting with Karnataka, are also introducing similar services, he said, adding that they will be more than happy to assist the governments that wish to implement this mechanism in their states.

“The nation will truly progress only when we all learn from each other’s innovative ideas and good work happening in any of the states,” he added.

Interestingly, the Maharashtra government on Thursday launched ‘faceless RTOs’ to help citizens avail facilities linked to the sector better. Through this arrangement, driving licences and several other services will be available to people who need not physically make the rounds of RTOs, minister of state for transport Satej Patil, who inaugurated the initiative, said. —

— PTI Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal with transport minister Kailash Gahlot during a visit to the Automated Test Track at RTO office at Sarai Kale Khan in New Delhi on Thursday.