A digital copy of the driving licence will reach an applicant on the registered mobile number within four hours of clearing the final test, state transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty said on Tuesday.
The driving licence owner can show it on his mobile phone when asked for. A hard copy of the licence containing all details will be sent to the applicant’s registered address by post.
“The idea is to ensure complete transparency. The digital copy of the driving licence will be sent via an SMS link. The digital copy can be downloaded and printed,” Chakraborty told The Telegraph.
A pilot project of the scheme was launched for Howrah district during the day. Senior officials of the transport department said the scheme will be implemented in other districts, including Kolkata, over the next few months.
Once the project is rolled out across the state, applicants will not have to visit the local transport department office to collect their driving licence.
It usually takes at least three weeks for most regional transport offices to issue a driving licence after checking the list of successful candidates submitted by the motor vehicle inspectors. Senior officials said the introduction of the scheme of quick issuance of driving licence will help eliminate touts, who often force applicants to cough up huge amounts of money to hand over driving licences.
Regional transport offices in Kolkata have not been issuing hard copies of driving licences for some time because of technical glitches. Which means one has to remain satisfied with only a printout of the original licence.
“As part of the pilot project, online applications to the regional transport office in Howrah for various services will be cleared on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis,” minister Chakraborty said. “This will ensure that no application is processed out of turn or left pending.” Officials said the services that will be available online include transfer of ownership, change of address and renewal of registration certificate.