Though officials claim to have taken concrete measures for preventing touts from operating at the Regional Transport Office, agents continue to do brisk business at the RTO in Dehradun.
While touts continue their business at the RTO in Dehradun, the officials concerned state that actions like regular inspection by officials, restricting agents from entering official cabins and installation of CCTV cameras have been executed to prevent such irregularities. Even after the installation of CCTV cameras at the counter, server room and the main entrance not a single agent has been identified indulging in trade here.
According to the additional regional transport officer Sandeep Saini, “Apart from action taken to prevent agents from plying their trade a help desk is open for the public from 10 Am to 2 PM where they can register their complaint, seek information and assistance from our officials. In addition to this periodic inspections are undertaken to keep a check on the agents,” he added. However, people continue to use the services of agents who offer a learner’s license in a day for Rs 400 and a learners and a driving license for Rs 1,100 in a day. When asked about the difficulties faced at the RTO, college student Rahul Nainwal said “Whenever I plan to visit the RTO, I assume that my entire day is going to be wasted. The actual process for procuring a license is not time consuming but anomalies in the procedure caused me to make repeated visits to the RTO for procuring the license. Many times, I returned without getting any work done after seeing long queues at the counters,” he said.
Namrata Thapa who was at the RTO for procuring a drivers license said, “Earlier, I had procured my learners license through an agent for `400. I find using the agents convenient and swift instead of waiting in a queue for hours without surety of my work getting done. They charge `400-500 for
learners’ license and up to `1,100 for a permanent license and assure to the public that their work will be done the very next day. Those not using the agents have to pay less than `100 for a learners license and less than `500 for a permanent licence,” she added.