Terming it a gift for Delhiites ahead of the 75th Independence Day, the city government on Wednesday launched ‘faceless services’ related to the transport department.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the initiative by putting a lock on the premises of the IP Estate Zone RTO.
According to the government, the programme will initially cover 33 major transport-related services — covering almost 95% of the applications usually received by the department — with more services to be added soon. Only driving test and vehicle-fitness test will be done in person.
Faceless services will provide “freedom from long queues, brokers and middlemen at the RTO office”, the government said, adding that people can now access “all the work of the transport department” while sitting at home.
“ People would go, stand in lines every time and then someone would keep making objections in their application again and again. Eventually you’d get tired and get an agent to do it,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
“All services of the transport department are now digital, no need to collect documents and stand in lines, no need to take a holiday, no need to hire a middleman or agent. Just turn the computer on and do it,” he added.
Four RTOs were closed on Wednesday: IP Depot, Vasant Vihar, Sarai Kale Khan and Janakpuri. Helpdesk services will be available at these offices to ensure a smooth transition.
“Trial of these services started on February 19, 2021, and 3.42 lakh service requests were processed over a period of five months,” the government stated.
The CM said that all departments are under the process of going faceless and online.
Institutional restructuring, the government stated, was also being undertaken at RTOs with the department having restructured its field functioning and 3 Deputy Commissioners having been deployed at Surajmal Vihar, Sarai Kale Khan and Dwarka covering all zones in Delhi.
The government stated that these offices would help facilitate faceless services and also assume leadership for road safety, enforcement and other field related works of the transport department.
