Dispur: As part of the State Government’s efforts to make public service delivery efficient and hassle-free, Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma today launched 10 Aadhar- based contactless services of the Transport Department at Assam Administrative Staff College.

It may be noted, Transport Department had launched and successfully implemented 3 online Aadhar-based services last year i.e. applying for a learner’s driving license from home, renewal of driving license, and issue of duplicate driving license.

The 10 services launched by the department today are 6 Nos of Vahan Software-based services relating to vehicles which are Transfer of Ownership related (of the vehicle on sale or death of the owner), hypothecation Cancellation, Hypothecation Endorsement, No Objection Certificate (NOC for inter-district & inter-state transfer of vehicle from one DTO office to another), Change of Address (of vehicle owners after taking NOC from one DTO office to another), Duplicate Registration Certificate (in case of Loss, torn, mutilated, etc.) & 4 (Four) Sarathi- software-based services relating to Driving License, viz. International Driving Permit (to authorize one Indian Driving License holder to drive in another Country), Replacement of Driving License (in case of torn & mutilated Driving License), Surrender of Class of Vehicle & Driving Licence Extract (in case required by any agencies like the insurance investigators).

All these 10 services are expected to reduce footfalls at DTO offices by about 4 lakhs people annually. A total of 4,52,000 people have been able to obtain learner’s licenses through online mode till now after the launching of the service.

Asserting that the Government of Assam is setting new benchmarks for inefficient and hassle-free public service delivery, the Chief Minister said that all efforts are being made to minimize the compliance burden for common people in obtaining government services in pursuance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision. These online services are a step in that direction, he said.

The Chief opined that DTOs should have less burden so that they can focus solely on enforcement of rules and regulations. By gradually phasing out offline application and service delivery in Transport Dept, DTOs would be made free to work in enforcement, he added.

Applauding the Transport Department for earning approximately Rs 800 crore revenue despite the Covid pandemic last year, Dr. Sarma said that it is one of the top-performing Departments of the State Government in the last nine months and similar growth is expected from the Department in the future as well.

In addition to the ten services, the Chief Minister also launched a night navigation facility for Guwahati-based ferry services and an e-ticketing system for Dhubri and Silchar ferry services at today’s programme.

An MoU was also signed today between Common Service Centres (CSCs) under the Ministry of Information Technology and Transport Dept for facilitating the people at the panchayat level to avail the above-mentioned online services. 13,568 CSCs in Assam will enable people to obtain online services of the department.

Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary & senior officers of the department were present on the occasion.