Lucknow: People applying for services of the Transport Department now have the option of doing so online in Hindi. Till now, the only language available for applicants was English.
ETV Bharat had highlighted the problems faced by applicants not well conversant in English while applying for services on the Sarathi portal of Transport Department. After the report was published, Uttar Pradesh Transport Commissioner BN Singh directed the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to expedite the process of making the application services on the website available in Hindi. The other languages available on the website are Kannada and Tamil.
As the website of Uttar Pradesh Transport Department was in English, applicants had been facing problems. Due to less or no knowledge of English, the applicants had to visit cyber cafes where a syndicate of brokers extorted money from them. Several such complaints had come to light. Singh started the exercise of making available the applications in Hindi.
Singh held discussions with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and NIC after which the option of Hindi along with English was included in the website. Apart from this, options of Kannada and Tamil are also available in the website. Officials of National Informatics Centre said while the options will be visible in Hindi, details will have to be filled in English only. Applicants faced difficulty in appearing the learning driving licence test. Answers to most of the questions in the test have to be given in yes or no. As the questions were in English, applicants were not able to understand them, because of which they gave wrong answers.
Apart from learner driving licence, services like change of address, change of photograph and signature in learner's licence, issuing duplicate learner's licence, renewal of DL (in which there is no need to check driving proficiency), changing biometrics in DL, changing photo and sign in DL, surrendering category of vehicle from DL, issuing duplicate public service vehicle (PSV) badge, renewal of conductor licence, issuing duplicate conductor licence, provision for getting conductor licence, changing address in conductor licence, changing biometrics in conductor licence, depositing registration certificate fee, changing address in certificate of registration are available online.
