Drive rashly? Mumbai RTOs plan to digitise 1.8 crore records to get info on you quickly, nab you

Digitising records is likely reduce the time it takes to disseminate information, minimise the communication delay and make day-to-day operations more transparent

Following Bombay high court orders, the transport department has decided to hasten its process of scanning and digitising records pertaining to vehicle registration and driving licences. This will enable the authorities to take quick action against repeat offenders.

According to transport department sources, the digitisation of records is a mammoth task. Along with entering data about licences and vehicles, workers will also have to scan 25 to 30 crore pages. (HT)

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by chief secretary Sumit Mullick last week. Officials met to discuss the immediate steps that needed to be taken to avoid the anger of the court, which warned them of action for contempt, if the work was not expedited.

Earlier, the department was waiting for the state’s information and technology department to appoint a vendor to scan and digitise the records. But now, it has decided to float tenders to appoint a data entry agency to carry out the work. “We will have to digitise about 1.8 crore records,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified.

In 2015, the transport department had floated tenders to begin work at a few regional transport offices including those at Tardeo and Andheri. However, the state cancelled these.

According to transport department sources, the digitisation of records is a mammoth task. Along with entering data about licences and vehicles, workers will also have to scan 25 to 30 crore pages. The project is expected to take more than a year to complete.

The transport department began digitising its data in the 1990s, but the project got a boost only in 2006, after the SARATHI and VAHAN systems developed by the National Informatics Centre were introduced to help with registration of driving licences and vehicles.

The department, however, just started registering transport category vehicles — those with yellow number plates. Owners of these vehicles have to approach RTOs annually to renew their fitness certificate. In the absence of a complete digitisation of records, it has become difficult for transport and traffic authorities to get the details of such vehicles quickly, in cases of accidents or crimes.

According to RTO officials, digitising records will reduce the time it takes to disseminate information, minimise the communication delay and make day-to-day operations more transparent. It is also expected to help authorities implement initiatives such as e-challans and take stern action against repeat offenders.

RTO sources said documents deteriorate with age, which is why digitisation is important. Searching and retrieving documents is time-consuming and can be made faster with a digital system. To preserve these documents in the long run and gain easier access to them, digitisation is recommended, said officials.