Done with Your Test, Got Your New Vehicle-But You’ll have to Wait 2 Months to Get your Drivers Licence
Mangaluru: If you happen to be at the RTO office/building these days, you’ll run into bunch of people frustrated of not received their Drivers Licence even after two months- and there are many reasons for that, and couple of them are : 1} As personnel in the Mangaluru Regional Transport office are getting acclimatised to Sarathi4, the latest version of online issuance of Learners Licence (LL) and Driving Licence (DL), there was delay in processing applications, as per Senior Motor Vehicle Inspector and in-charge Assistant Regional Transport Officer John Misquith, who said few weeks ago.
It is learnt that Mangaluru office is handling more than 100 applications per day earlier. After introducing Sarathi4 software it has considerably slowed down the work. If someone applies today, they get appointment for Learners Licence test 30 days later. Misquith had said that Vahan4, a software for registration of vehicles, was introduced in March, while Sarathi 4, a software for issuance of DL and LL, was introduced in June. “We have limited staff and some of them are old. They are taking time to get acclimatised with this new online systems,” he said.
Senior Motor Vehicle Inspector and in-charge Assistant RTO John Misquith addressing Media
To handle the load of requests for Learners Licence, Misquith said, they first started with providing 10 slots per day. “Now, we are providing 30 slots. In the coming days, it would be increased to 60 when the personnel will be used to the operations of the new system,” he said. Misquith had also said that the prime responsibility of the department was collecting revenue for the State. “We are given targets every month and we have to give explanation if the same is not met,” he said. The first priority was for collecting taxes and taking steps to seize vehicles for which taxes have not been paid. Enforcement of traffic rules, including checking of vehicles, comes next, he said.
It is also learnt that there is also delay in processing applications seeking renewal of registration certificate for old vehicles. The second reason for the delay in getting DL is that : After migration from Sarathi 3 to Sarathi 4 the RTO office has yet to dispatch DL’s of pending applications, only after winding up Sarathi 3 applications only then they will handle Sarathi 4 applications, that means there is a long wait. It is noted that at least 2500 licences are waiting to be be processed and printed. Plus shortage of staff at RTO office is also yet another reason for the delay. Earlier the office is to process around 100-140 applications a day, now only 30-40 are processed.
It is also learnt that earlier a student licence took a day to get it, now it takes almost a month. Only after a month after student obtains LLR, he/she can apply for DL. Due to all these delay from RTO, many driving institutes are facing the brunt. As per RTO official the delay in issuing DL’s is due to printing glitch. Since at the moment the printing of DL’s are done for Sarathi 3 applications, no DLs’ of Sarathi 4 could be printed simultaneously. Therefore the delay, but Misquith has assured the problem will be solved within 10 days or so.
