HYDERABAD: Lodging a complaint with Regional Transport Authority (RTA), which is among the busiest departments in the State, is an Herculean task as there is no grievance cell or platform, either online or in person. In contrast, departments like GHMC, Water Works and Police, have exclusive grievance cells where the public can bring the issues to the notice of the authorities for redressal. These departments also have Twitter handles where the public can raise the issues they face.
However, when it comes to the RTA, where thousands of applicants avail services on a daily basis, no such facility exists. Though RTA services are online, users face a lot of problems such as delay in receiving smart cards, messages about transactions and non-receipt of OTPs.
While the tech-savvy, do not find it a problem to avail RTA services like obtaining driving licence, vehicle registration, driving tests, fitness renewal or transfer of ownership, other citizens struggle due to lack of help desks and grievance cells.
For example, when a user tries to book a slot for any of the services offered by the RTA, an OTP is sent to his or her registered mobile number following which the applicant can proceed. However, with the server being slow, it sometimes takes around one to two hours for the OTPs. Moreover, some applicants do not even receive messages on the allotment of registration numbers for vehicle and driving licences.
When the vehicle is registered with RTA, the vehicle owner should ideally receive a message regarding the allotted registration number the same day or at least the next day. In erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the government had a grievance cell with a dedicated staff to record the problems faced by applicants. It even provided a helpline -- 1074 -- through the ‘dial your office’ concept where the staff used to bring the problems to the notice of respective authorities. For reasons unknown, the RTA has now done away with all such people-friendly services.