Smartcard shortage leads to pendency of RC books, driving licences at Pune RTO

Since the last one month, thousands of registration certificate (RC) books and permanent driving licences (DLs) of both two- and four- wheeler riders are pending at the Pune Regional Transport Office

Since the last one month, thousands of registration certificate (RC) books and permanent driving licences (DLs) of both two- and four- wheeler riders are pending at the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) as it has fallen short of smartcards due to which the printing is delayed. Whereas several applicants are seen doing the rounds of the RTO and General Post Office (GPO) with long queues daily at the Pune RTO office.

Adding to the applicants’ woes, the servers at the Sangamwadi RTO office are showing errors for the last couple of days. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Sagar Abnawe, a Katraj resident, said, “In November 2022, I bought a new car and was told by the dealer that the RC book would be posted to my address within a month. It is now almost two months and I have visited the RTO a couple of times to check my RC book status but I still haven’t got it. Earlier, I was told it would be posted to me but later, I came to know from an insider that it hasn’t even been printed.”

Sagar Shirodkar, who purchased a new motorcycle around a month ago, said, “From the last one month, I am regularly visiting the Pune RTO office to get my RC book but each time, the staffers give some excuse. I had to pay a fine to the traffic police for not having a RC book which is not my fault. The RTO should immediately complete the pending procedure and despatch the RC books.”

The smartcards have a chip inside which stores all the data related to the vehicle, including the chassis number, model number, registration details etc. Each series of each type of vehicle has about 10,000 registration numbers; the printing of the RC books of the last three to four series is pending. Adding to the applicants’ woes, the servers at the Sangamwadi RTO office are showing errors for the last couple of days due to which a lot of the vehicle-related work (transfer, permit, insurance etc.) has been affected.

Ajit Shinde, Pune regional transport officer, said, “The printing of the RC books was impacted for a few days due to the shortage of smartcards but we are now getting a fresh supply and this week onwards, we will start clearing the pendency of RC books and within a month, all RC books will be despatched from our side to the post office for delivery to the applicants.”