It has been seven years since the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) began issuing smartcards for driving licences and vehicle registration certificates (RC) to bring much-needed speed and transparency to its operations. However, with the RTO’s failure to procure smartcard readers that can render the data on the cards, the move has proved to be just a half-baked effort so far.

Not worth their plastic: Until the RTO procures card readers, the smartcards issued for driving licences and RCs are no better than their older paper counterparts. File pic

“We have been following up with the state transport commissioner for the procurement of the smart card readers. There are some technical issues like the operative software that have to be dealt with. Only then will we will be able to use the smartcard readers effectively,” said Jitendra Patil, the Pune regional transport officer.

Since March 7, 2007, the RTO has been issuing smartcards to citizens under the state’s e-governance programme aimed at using Information Technology for better and speedy work. On an average, 3,100 smartcards are issued by the RTO every day —2,500 driving licences and 600 vehicle RCs.

In theory, the chips on the smartcards will allow RTO and traffic department officials to verify licence and registration details on the spot. This would help the officials to nab criminals who steal vehicles and forge registration documents quicker.