Agents up in arms as new DL scheme affects ‘business’

The influential lobby of driving licence agents seems to feel the heat of the state transport department’s recently launched scheme under which licences are being home delivered. The central regional transport office (RTO) in Tardeo witnessed several chaotic scenes of protests from the agents.

A senior RTO official said that the agents are opposed to the scheme as it has become impossible to avail licences against fake addresses.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had launched the scheme on April 1. The RTO officials said that close to 1,000 licences were dispatched. Out of these, 35 were those under which the addresses were either found to be fake or the occupants had moved out.

“This change has prompted the agents to demand that the RTO must allow them to produce ID cards of applicants and the licences be issued to them on their applicants’ behalf. Obviously, that is not possible and this has annoyed them,” said the official.