Close to 90% of the total number of applications for permanent drivers’ licences received by over a dozen Motor Licensing Offices (MLOs) in the Capital in July were made online, data recorded by the Delhi Transport Department stated.
Of the total number of applications for permanent drivers’ licences received during July, recorded at 19,375, only 1,940, or slightly over 10%, were made through the traditional offline mode, that is in person by applicants approaching MLOs located in their respective jurisdictional zone; 89.9% of such applications, or 17,435, were made online.
After it was gradually introduced across such facilities beginning mid-2017, the online acceptance of applications for various services with a significant stress on those for permanent drivers’ licences, is expected to positively impact the existing annual average of around two to three lakh permanent drivers’ licences which the Department has been issuing over the years.
“We started using the all India Saarthi 4 software of NIC in mid-2017 and gradually brought four MLOs, catering to areas generating a significant number of applications for such documentation, completely online last year,” Transport Commissioner-cum-Secretary Varsha Joshi said.
“The figures indicate that the number of applications being made online is increasing steadily in all RTOs and now exceeds offline almost everywhere. Help desks at most of these facilities, barring only a few which see relatively less footfall of applicants, have played a major role in guiding applicants through the process and we plan on increasing the number of these help desks at such facilities soon,” Ms. Joshi added.
Janakpuri MLO
The figures recorded by the Department stated the Janakpuri MLO emerged the most successful with accepting 1,118 online applications and zero offline applications. Similarly, traditionally “busy” MLOs such as Mall Road and IP Depot registered just one offline application each of the total number of 1,598 and 186 applications, respectively, accepted at these.
Learners’ licences
Applications for learners’ licences through the traditional mode, however, were still neck to neck with their online counterparts, the study revealed. There were 18,344 online as against 14,451 offline applications out of the total 32,795 applications for learners’ driving licences received by the Transport Department in July.
MLOs such as IP Depot and Janakpuri saw more preference for online applications, with offline applications for learners’ licences here recorded at 1 and 2 out of the total number of applications, that is 390 and 3,283, respectively.
However, the preference for the traditional mode of offline applications was still prevalent at MLOs such as Sheikh Sarai, which received 2,894 of the total 4,552 applications offline and just 1,658 online, Loni, which received 2,331 of the total 3,227 applications offline and just 896 online and Rohini which received 1,871 of the total 3,665 applications offline and just 1,794 online.