Aadhaar-driving licence linkage to reduce crowds at RTOs, says official

The state issues between 10-15 lakh new driving licences every year

The Centre's decision to link Aadhaar with driving licence and vehicle registration certificate will considerably reduce crowds at Regional Transport Offices and make them free of agents and touts, Transport Commissioner Avinash Dhakane has said.

"The Government of India has already issued a draft notification for Aadhaar linkage. Once that happens and Vahan and Sarathi systems get linked with Aadhaar, crowds at RTOs will reduce to 20 per cent [from current level]," he said.

Post-these changes, only a few people will have to visit RTOs for work related to driving licence and vehicle fitness, the top official said. The linkage will eliminate the need for submitting hard copies of documents, he said. About 1.5 lakh people visit the 50 RTOs across Maharashtra every day.

Officials said the move will also curb the menace of duplicate driving licences. Many people prefer to get their work done through agents and touts, who charge hefty amounts, leading to corruption and depriving citizens of better services, say activists.

In 2014-15, the then transport commissioner, Mahesh Zagade, had banned the entry of agents and touts inside RTO premises, but the change did not materialise. Maharashtra has already issued 3.5 crore permanent driving licences. Every year, 10-15 lakh new ones are issued.

Transport department officials said they recently launched a provision of digital signature for a learning licence, which has a validity of six months. The department has already received over 700 learning licence forms signed digitally since the start of this month.