Transport Minister Divakar Raote is probably a college student’s favourite politician right now. In a populist announcement, he said that his department will be issuing learning licenses in colleges.
According to Raote, all students will be issued learning licenses for two and four wheelers. The decision will first be implemented at the Kirti College in Dadar from Monday onwards.
In a press release issued by the transport department, students generally contact corrupt agents to aid with getting their license, and this in turn leads to a misconception that all government agencies are corrupt. Therefore in a move aimed at dispelling these notions, the government department will directly interact with students.
Even though learning licenses will be issued in college, tests will still be conducted in the presence of RTO officials. This decision has however not gone down well with officials in the department, who feel that the move will be an additional burden on the already over worked and short staffed RTO. They also feel that this will further affect services to the rest of the public.
Earlier, the department had authorised Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) to train drivers by issuing them learning licences, according to RTO officials. The move failed to take off owing to a lukewarm response. Department officials are also predicting a similar result for the latest announcement.
Authorities also said that it was observed that a lot of the applicants for learning licenses are students, who also waste a lot of time standing in queues. This drive will also see less queues at the RTOs. Senior transport officials have said that atleast one RTO officer will be stationed at schools and will impart knowledge on road safety and traffic rules and conduct tests. The RTO software will be uploaded on computers in colleges and every computer will have different questions so that there is no scope for cheating.
