Driving license to be delivered at doorstep

Soon Driving licence will be delivered at doorstep

If things work out as planned, the regional transport offices (RTO) will soon dispatch driving licences to your doorstep.

The state transport department is finalising a proposal of delivering driving licences with the help of the General Post Office. The scheme is likely to be implemented on an experimental basis from May 1.

“I have already held talks in this regard with the postal department and they are willing to undertake the scheme. We will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with them very soon,” Deepak Kapoor, transport commissioner, told DNA.

The transport department is contemplating seeking delivery charges ranging from Rs22 to Rs25. “We plan to levy a small additional charge for home delivery which will be over and above the licensing fee and hence the scheme is optional for the first six months. If one wants to personally collect the license it is fine, but if you want it delivered at home, please pay the small extra amount,” said Kapoor.

If officials from the transport department are to be believed, one reason for seeking to deliver licenses is to establish a mechanism to verify the applicant’s address proof. At present, the RTO do not have any method of checking the address proofs of the applicants. “If the address is incorrect, the parcel will come back, which is a critical security feature of this scheme,” he said.

It may be recalled that recently the RTO launched its website wherein applicants need not frequent the offices and thereby provide fodder for the middlemen. “I am trying to eliminate or at least reduce the role of middlemen. I plan to open a separate window at each RTO office wherein people can pay if they want the license delivered home. However, we also plan to modify the website so that people can mention it online whether they want it delivered to their doorstep,” Kapoor said.

The RTO is also trying to appoint an agency to undertake this work. “We are working out the modalities of appointing an agency to carry out this work. It will take some time but we plan to launch it in coming weeks,” he added.