Mumbai, Jun 14 (IANS): It will no longer be mandatory in Maharashtra for candidates to crowd up at the RTOs to get a learner's driving licence - it will now be available online, sitting at home.
In another pathbreaking tech-driven initiative, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday launched the first-ever Online Learner's Licence system, based on the Aadhaar card.
The aspirants can simply log onto the upgraded 'Sarathi 4.0' portal and apply for the online driver learner's licence by paying a nominal fee as before.
The applicants will also undergo an online test, based on a course module along with road safety videos and after completing the test successfully, will be issued the licence on their computers or their smartphones, said an official.
Terming it a "revolutionary measure", Transport Minister Anil Parab said that on an average, the state government issues over 15 lakh learner's driving licences, besides registering 20 lakh new vehicles annually, through its 50-odd RTOs across the state.
"This work is not only highly stressful, but costs over Rs 100 crore and around 200 officers are involved in the exercise. All this will end now with the online system of issuing learner's driving licences and online registering of new vehicles in Maharashtra," he said.
Thackeray said that besides providing fast and transparent services, the Transport Department should give priority to safe transport services.
He called for efforts to provide better services in the state deploying new technologies to save time, money and energy besides helping to improve efficiency.
Transport Commissioner Dr Avinash Dhakane said that candidates will not need to crowd at the RTO offices to get their learner's driving licence now and can get it through the online option.
Similarly, for online registration of all vehicles - which was notified by the Transport Department on June 8 - the need for taking vehicles for inspection by motor vehicle inspectors or physical documents shall be done away with.
"All the documents will be prepared by the vehicle distributor using Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) in e-signature format, and the vehicle registration number will be issues immediately after the dealer pays the taxes and fees," Dhakane said.
Top officials from the Centre and state including Director General of NIC Dr Nita Verma, Additional Chief Secretary Ashish Kumar Singh, Deputy Transport Commissioner Jitendra Patil, Vikas Kharge, Abasaheb Jarhad and others were present on the occasion.