In a major relief to residents, who had to stand in long queues to get a driving licence and or for the their renewal of permits, the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) in the national Capital will remain open all seven days a week from Sunday.
The Delhi government’s transport department has also extended the working hours at the RTOs and now they will be open from 7 am to 7 pm instead of 10 am to 5.30 pm.
The decision is intended to help thousands of people, who have to stand in long queues at RTOs every day for getting their work done.
“In order to ensure smooth issuance of driving licences to applicants, it has been decided by the competent authority to open all Regional Transport offices from 7 am to 7 pm, seven days a week, except on Gazetted holidays, w.e.f July 10, 2016 till further orders,” the directive issued by the transport department said. Duty shifts would be decided by the Motor Licensing Officers (MLOs) concerned as per availability of staff.
In Delhi, there are 12 Regional Transport Offices.
According to estimates (roughly), over 1,000 cars are registered by the department in the national Capital every day. However, the decision has not gone down well with the staff of the transport department.
“The department is reeling under huge shortage of staff, due to which there is a huge backlog of pending applications. Working even on Sundays will not solve the problem. The government should hire more people so that applicants don’t have to face problems while applying for driving licences or issuance of permits,” said an official, requesting anonymity.