BENGALURU: Youngsters who want to get their DLs through driving schools or the RTO office directly, come face-to-face with a nexus of corruption among such schools, government officers and touts.
Speaking to City Express, 19-year-old Nisha S, a BA student from Mount Carmel College, says, “I recently applied for a driving license through a driving school and I paid an additional amount of `1500 apart from the driving school fee without a clue as to why I was paying them. One needs to only pay money to get one’s driving license earlier than stipulated three months.” Many like 18 year old Priya V, a BDS student says she would not mind paying a bribe, “if paying a bribe makes them work faster.”
Highlighting the power of influence in such processes, Vincent Anand, an engineer says, “You will need easy money or an influential person as a reference for authorities to respond properly and get your work done on time.” The driver’s license is said to be given sooner if you bribe them. Youngsters are hesitant to confront the officers fearing consequences from higher authorities and give in to them. “The fee to be paid to get a DL directly from the RTO Office is around `1350 and `5000 if it is through the driving school,” says Suresh (name changed), an instructor at a driving school.
Anupam Agrawal, Deputy Commissioner of police (Traffic), East Division, says,“The human mind always chooses the easier way out of difficult situations. The process of obtaining a driving license has become easier with it being done online exempting you from the difficult, time-consuming procedure and yet we see a lot of cases where youngsters do not go through with their tests. And when it comes to the situation of giving or taking bribes, no, it must not be encouraged”