Coming soon: A mobile app that will end your countless visits to motor vehicles dept
May be a blow to the tout raj in the motor vehicles offices.
In a big relief for vehicle owners, the state transport department will soon make paying taxes and other car fees easy through a mobile app sitting at home. On Wednesday, transport minister Subhendu Adhikari will kick off the exercise at the Kasba motor vehicles office.
This is one of the many measures that the government is taking to reform the transport sector in the state. The minister will kick-start the process of keeping digital proof of car papers while driving --- from driver’s licence to tax coupon and insurance documents. So, if a traffic cop wants to check vehicle papers, just flash them on your mobile.
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“It is actually a project of the Union surface transport ministry. In Bengal, the process will be kicked off by Subhendu Adhikari, who will inaugurate the app,” a senior official of the transport department who did not wish to be named told HT.
“Both owners and drivers of vehicles will now be spared the hassle of carrying hard copies of their driving licences and vehicle registration certificates, which can be accessed online on the mobile using the app DigiLocker. All payments relating to motor vehicles can also be made using this app,” the official added.
“The new measures will benefit the common people and ensure a corruption-free, transparent system,” an official at the Kasba motor vehicles department said.
Read: Soon, carry digital versions of driving licence, registration in your cell phone
Those who sign up on DigiLocker will get cloud storage space which can be used for storing key documents such as voter ID, driving licences and vehicle registration certificates.
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The apps will bring together the database and applications of all regional transport offices across states into a common centralised platform to deliver digital services to all vehicle-owners and drivers.
The state government has also decided to try out CNG-run vehicles as public transport. Environment minister and Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee said that as a test case, some buses would be run on CNG. “We will go ahead only after a successful trial run,” Chatterjee said.
