Pune RTO staffers show up late, servers constantly down leaving public waiting for hours

PUNE It’s a daily issue for public coming to the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) – a long wait to get any work done

PUNE It’s a daily issue for public coming to the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) – a long wait to get any work done.

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Staffer and officials are not in their seats on time. On the other hand, the computer server is frequently down stopping all biometric registration.

Working hours start from 10 am for both transport and non-transport departments. The learning license department starts from 7.30 am.

On Thursday, when HT visited the Pune RTO office at Sangamwadi, many RTO staffers and officers were not present at 10 am. Just 30 per cent of the staff was present there on time, none of them senior RTO officials or inspectors.

“I came to the RTO office for a transfer. When I visited the transport section there was only one staffer and she told me to wait till the concerned officer comes in. I had to wait till 11.30 am, when the officer came and my work was completed,” said Kedar Mane.

It is the same situation at the learning licence section. Applicants who were given an appointment were waiting because the server was down.

To get a learning licence, an applicant has to go through document verification and biometrics, and finally appear for an online test. The server was down for an hour.

“When my number came for document verification for a learning licence I was told to wait as the server was down. This is not expected from the RTO department, as we are risking our lives to come to such a crowded place and then we have to wait for a long time because of technical issues,” said Shreya Kajale, an applicant.

Though the state transport department has started learning licence test online and one can get it processed at home, many still prefer to come to the RTO. A few years ago, RTO agents were moved out from office premises and now those agents are working from outside the compound. People stand on the boundary walls of the RTO office and from the other side agents take documents and other necessary items to complete the licences.

Pune regional transport officer Ajit Shinde said, “We are taking all the necessary safety precautions within the office and staff has been instructed to come on time to work efficiently. The technical issues are solved immediately by our technical team and there won’t be any complaint in the future.”