Jammu, Feb 11: The seamless shifting of Regional Transport Officer (RTO) to online operations is seemingly limited to government notification. The common people are confused and agents are cashing on it by spreading rumors that fees will be higher via online payment.
“There is no clarity. Some are still suggesting depositing fees manually at the counter which is tedious job. Agents are demanding about Rs 7000 as registration fees of two wheelers telling fees have hiked since online operations. Though officially the fees for the same is still Rs 4000, “ said Rajiv Kotwal, named changed, who had deposited the fees though an agent.
The ministry of surface transport had directed RTO offices across the country to switch over to digital payment mode as part of the complete online operations of the department.
RTO offices at Jammu and Samba claimed they have shifted to online operations on VAHAN- e-governance application system under National Transport Project to automate operations related to vehicle registration, permit, taxation- and Sarathi-online operation for driving license.
The department claims that that both the website are working though many people say sites doesn’t work properly and even if all documents are uploaded for driving licence they still have to get them verified manually at office, which not only undermines the whole operation but also leaves room for the agents.
“There is no clear information. Even the online systems has technical glitches and can be operated only by an expert-read agent. So ultimately again we have rely on them,” said a person who had come to get his document verified manually for the driving license. He said interestingly the same agents are depositing the fees at the counter, while the department is asking common people to deposit it online.
Assistant regional transport officer (ARTO), Jammu Neeraj Sharma said that department is in the final stages of fully switching over to the online system.
“Many features have shifted to online system though some work does remain. The technical glitches will also be solved very shortly,“ said the ARTO. He says the agents don’t have any role in the fees deposition.
The official of the National Informatics Center (NIC) working on uploading feature of VAHAN and SARATHI and for seamless shifting to this mode , working in the state, said there are still some glitches and they will be solved soon. He said once fully operational there will be no role for the agents and the driving licences will be issued on the lines of passport, once the applicants uploads all relevant documents and get them verified on the date of appointment, which will be generated by the system.
