Citizens in dark over revised charges

Rta delay in updating citizens’ charter

Hyderabad: The Transport Department, despite collecting enhanced transaction fees for various services since early January, has failed to update the Citizens’ Charter in the offices. The notice boards in the offices are still displaying the old charges for various services.

The department had started collecting the enhanced charges for various services like driving license, registration of vehicles and others from January 11. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued notification on December 29 amending Rule 81 of CMV rules. There was threefold increase in the charges for the services offered by the department.

The officials, who were quick in implementing the new charges, failed to update the Citizens’ Charter. The Citizens’ Charter was brought out by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government when A Giridhar was the Commissioner during 2002. It was aimed at ensuring accountability, transparency, prompt and citizen-friendly services.

It was for providing citizen-centric services like issue of driving licenses, registration of motor vehicles, grant of permits, etc and informing the people the exact time in which the work can be done. The Citizens’ Charter at the RTA Khairatabad is inconspicuous. The fee for new learner’s license has been increased to Rs 230 but the notice board still displays the charge is Rs 60. Similarly, the permanent driving license costs Rs 845 now, but the charter shows Rs 475.

The Citizens Charter made available online in the department website was also not updated. Citizens are facing delays in securing better quality of service in contrast to the prescribed norms in the Citizens’ Charter. Candidates passing the driving test are forced to wait for more than two weeks for securing permanent licence in sharp contrast to the Citizens’ Charter which prescribed 72 hours time limit.

Similarly, the cancellation of hypothecation should be done within an hour, and the original RC (registration certificate) should be delivered to the applicant within two hours of the application, it is suffering 15 days delay. The vehicle transfer should be done within an hour, but sources say that the officials deliberately delay the process forcing the applicants to visit the office twice or thrice.

According to sources, there is no proper maintenance of the Citizens’ Charter at almost all the RTA offices. The Charter at the Khairatabad office is placed at such a location that the citizens cannot find it easily. Auto and Motors Welfare Association general secretary M Dayanand accused the officials of collecting high charges for services, but failing to act promptly.

By K Chandrashekar