Services hit at East RTO: Delay in getting licences, RC smart cards irks motorists

Nagpur: The deputy RTO (East) has been in the news for wrong reasons. This time it is for the delays in issuance of permanent driving licences (PDLs) and registration certificates (RCs). As this office has failed to deliver PDLs and RC smart cards on time for more than three months, over a 1,000 people have been facing hardships.
The delays are causing inconvenience to people as they have to make several rounds of the RTO office off Kalamna ring road, to check the status of their PDL and RC card, complained many applicants.
During a visit to the office, TOI spotted several applicants enquiring about the status of their PDL and RC cards.
Rohit Swarnakar (name changed on request) said in the last couple of years the overall service in this office has deteriorated.
The situation worsened after the lone assistant RTO deputed at the office proceeded on leave some two months ago, while the deputy RTO Ravindra Bhuyar, who is also holding the additional charge of city RTO office, hardly visits this office,.
Besides this, motor vehicle inspectors are reportedly being delegated with the charge of ARTO without the permission from the transport commissioner’s office. As a result, though the office work should begin at 10am and the licence section should start at 9.30am, most staffers walk in between 11.30am and 12.30pm, said visitors. According to the aggrieved PDL applicants, things get complicated while on road.
“Traffic cops ask for a smart card of PDL. In the absence of it, fines get imposed. The matter becomes further troublesome while travelling outside the city, where drivers face difficult situations despite no fault of theirs,” said Rakhi Sakhare, another aggrieved PDL applicant.
“It is not one week or 15 days, but delay of three months and still counting is too much for a government department to act upon,” said Pramod Dabhe, another applicant.
Jai Vidarbha Party’s district president (transport) and activist Amol Sakure claimed the RTO office has become a den of agents. “Issuance of my driving licence has been pending for the last four months,” he said.
Agents can be spotted even inside cabins of officials, he claimed.