E-vahan service for online registration of vehicles launched

Online payment of taxes and registration of vehicles through 'e-vahan' service will be implemented across the state by March 31, said state Transport minister Suvendu Adhikari after inaugurating the service for the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) on Thursday.

After Trinamool Congress came to power for its second term in 2016, the Transport department of the Mamata Banerjee government took initiative to introduce an online system so that people can pay road taxes or any other fees online.

The objective behind taking this step is to bring more transparency to the entire process of tax collection and, secondly, to create a smart system so that people can pay taxes online without having to visiting the motor vehicles office – where they often face inconvenience.

The work to implement the system in KMA started in October 2016 and was completed within three months.

On Thursday, Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and Adhikari inaugurated the online-based processes by registering a two-wheeler in Baruipur through the e-vahan website while sitting at the New Administrative Building of South 24 Parganas at Alipore.

To make payments through the e-vahan service, a citizen needs to go to the e-vahan website and register themselves by filling up all necessary details.

For this, they would need to enter a valid cell phone number in which the one time password will be sent to verify the user's identity.

Adhikari said: "It will be implemented across the state in the next three months. The project was taken up soon after forming the government, as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave a call for transparent government and e-governance. Introduction of the online tax payment and registration of vehicles will be helpful for people."

Sovan Chatterjee, under whose leadership the Kolkata Municipal Corporation took several steps for e-governance, suggested to the state Transport department to introduce a cell phone app that would make similar tasks easier for common people.

He also suggested incorporating data about cases of traffic norms violation against a vehicle within the records of the transport department.

Alapan Bandyopadhyay, Principal Secretary of Transport department, said: "With the introduction of this system, one has to go to motor vehicle offices no more. Tax and registration of vehicles can be done anytime, on all 365 days a year from cell phones or computers. Such an initiative had not been taken for the past many years and finally the task has been executed after the initiative was taken by the Transport minister Suvendu Adhikari."