HYDERABAD: With the unprecedented demand for learner’s driving licence, the state transport department has decided to increase the number of slots for the examination for applicants and also to work on Sundays to clear the rush.
Earlier, the department had offered the services from 10.30 am to 2 pm. Officials of the transport department have now decided to increase the timings till 4 pm so that the number of test slots could be increased.
The drive against people without valid licence and punishment for the violation has made bike riders without valid driving licence rush to Regional Transport Authority (RTA) offices to apply for one. On any normal day before the drive was taken up, about half the 1,200 slots for tests to be taken by applicants at various RTA offices in the city used to be booked. But, on Thursday, a day after the checks, 900 slots were booked.
Such is the demand that at some of the test centres such as the Khairatabad RTA office, all slots on Friday were booked. Only two slots at the centre were available for Thursday evening. The extension of timings will take effect in a few days.
“The demand for slots is high at the Khairatabad, Secunderabad and Malakpet RTA centres. The tests for issuance of Learner’s Licence will be conducted till 4 pm. And, we will work on Sundays too,” said T Raghunath, Hyderabad joint transport commissioner.
Observing that more slots for test were being booked, the Drivers Licence too were increasingly taken up. About 400 out of 600 slots were booked on Thursday for driving licence.