RTA begins issuing documents after month-long delay 

Hyderabad: After a month-long delay, the transport authorities have finally started issuing documents like registration of certificates, driving licenses etc. Issue of these documents was put on hold as the Road Transport Authority (RTA) offices in the State were facing severe shortage of smart cards since 5th November. This led to pendency of about 50,000 cards in offices across the State.

Smart cards are used for new RC books, driving licenses, C-books, duplicate licenses, renewal cards etc. Sources in the transport department said that the RTAs in the State print at least 200 to 400 cards per day. People who purchased a new vehicle were made to wait for more than one month to acquire their new RCs.

As per the Citizen’s Charter, the transport department should deliver the card within a day. If an applicant passes the driver’s test at the testing track, the RTA authorities should ensure that the card is delivered by 1pm on the next day but this was not being followed, sources said.
The transport Unions were critical of the government’s laxity over stocking enough cards to cater to the needs of people.

Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union General Secretary M Dayanand questioned as to why the authorities waited until the cards were exhausted. Writing a letter to Telangana State Technological Services for procuring the cards was enough but the authorities made people suffer, he said.

Transport department Principal Secretary Sunil Sharma told The Hans India that the Telangana State Technological Services (TSTS) was asked to call tenders. He said the officials were dispatching the cards to the applicants and normalcy was being restored in the RTA offices.