Friday, 06 August 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
The regional transport office (RTO) of Dehradun has started booking 50 new slots of learner’s licences (LLs) daily from Thursday through online registration.
Earlier, the RTO allowed only 25 new registrations for LLs considering thousands of pending applications due to the Covid- curfew. Since the RTO was closed for about two months due to the Covid-curfew, many registered applicants could not take a driving test. To clear this backlog, RTO initially allowed slot booking for only those who had already registered for LLs before the curfew but considering the decline in Covid cases, the daily bookings of 25 new slots were approved last month. “RTO started booking 100 slots from Thursday for learner’s licences. We have extended the booking limit from 25 slots for new LLs to 50 slots per day while the remaining 50 slots are still for the applications registered before the Covid curfew,” informed the regional transport officer (administration) Dinesh Chandra Pathoi. He also informed that slot bookings for permanent driving licences (DLs) are still limited to 125 slots and no new applications are being entertained.
According to Pathoi, the RTO is focusing on clearing the backlog which will probably take about two months and only after it, the department will allow more booking of slots for LLs and DLs. The officials also informed that except learner’s licence, no online booking or appointment is mandatory in RTO for any other work like the renewal of DL, taxes, permits and registration of vehicles.
Meanwhile, RTO is also gearing up to take action against thousands of commercial vehicle owners for pending taxes and penalties since last year across the district. However, the officials informed that they have asked the transport department to provide some funds to the transport office to carry out the procedure like sending the notices first for the pending taxes through registered post as per the procedure. The department will soon provide the required budget to the RTO, asserted the officials.
