Equipment defunct, applicants wait for hours at district transport office

Applicants wait for hours at the district transport office (DTO) to get their photographs clicked for driving licences as they have to stand in long queues.

Applicants wait for hours at the district transport office (DTO) to get their photographs clicked for driving licences as they have to stand in long queues.

HT Image

With a dysfunctional system for clicking photographs, the problems faced by the applicants have increased in the past few days. Of all counters inside the room, two are used for photo capturing and one for applicant’s assistance while the other remains vacant and unused.

Around 200 applicants visit the DTO for driving licences where they have to wait for three to four hours in long queues to get their work done. The situation becomes worse when the server goes down, a frequent problem at the office.

The employees of the department also have a hard time as they are unable to work efficiently because of stuffy rooms due to a single gate for entry.

Applicants complain that there is a dire need to improve the system at the DTO as there have been days in the past when they have had to wait for more than six hours or a whole day to simply submit their application forms or get their photos clicked for the licence.

Manish Kumar, a city resident, said he had come at 11am for the driving licence photo, but even after two hours, he was in the queue awaiting his turn.

District transport officer Paramjit Singh said he was aware of the problems being faced by visitors outside his office. He said their problems would be solved soon as the de par tment had decided to remove a wall from room number 120 and set up two new windows to facilitate visitors.