Surat RTO to shut cash counters

Surat: In a first, the regional transport office (RTO) in Surat will shut its cash counters for accepting various fees including licence, renewal, vehicle registration and fines starting Monday (December 17).
The decision has been taken to prevent people from thronging at the cash counters for the payment of various fees related to vehicles. The vehicle owners will now have to pay fees and other charges online using the parivahan.nic.in website or its mobile application.

Talking with TOI, regional transport officer (RTO), Parth Joshi said, “The cash counters remain flooded during the working hours with people standing in large queues to pay various fees. Almost five to six of our staff members remain engaged at the cash counter to serve the people. So, we have decided to close all the cash counters starting Monday.”

Joshi added, “People could pay vehicle related fees online using the parivahan.nic.in platform. They simply have to download the application on their mobiles or can also do transaction through the website.”

According to Joshi, in case of the submission of required documents related to vehicle registration and driving licences like photo and biometric, the people will have to visit the RTO.

Official sources said that more than 400 people queue up each day at the cash counters at RTO office in Pal for the payments. Due to the shortage of staff, people are not catered with in time bound manner.

The acceptance for driving licence fees and other works at RTO has been made online by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway, government of India. A dedicated online platform has been launched for payments of user fees using the secure payment gateway.