Hyderabad: The initial rush at the Road Transport Authority offices for a driving licence has fizzled out, with nearly 70 per cent of the slots remaining vacant. This is in contrast to the huge rush of licence-seekers when the traffic police launched a special drive in March this year. There are nearly 42 lakh vehicles in Hyderabad but the transport department has issued only 30 lakh licences.
Officials attributed the waning interest to the fact that those being booked for driving without a licence get away by just paying a fine. Traffic police officials said they will seek imprisonment for motorists booked for driving without licence.
Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) A.V. Ranganath said driving without licence was a serious offence liable for imprisonment. The traffic police booked 40,000 cases in four months against motorists driving without licence and even filed chargesheets. Imprisonment, however, was not given in many of these cases.
“There is no fear among motorists. From now on, however, they cannot get away by just paying a fine because magistrates have, in principle, agreed to send the motorists booked without a driving licence to jail,” Mr Ranganath said.
Several motorists demanded that the timings of the learner’s licence system, 10 am to 2 pm, needs to be revised. “The RTA should open slots before and after office hours to make it convenient to office-goers,” said S Rithvik, a private employee.
