Motorists fume as Telangana fails to implement Centre's order

Hyderabad: Even though the Centre had issued orders extending the validity of the driving licence for a year in the wake of Covid pandemic during March, the State transport department is not implementing the Central orders and asking the motorists to go for tests again stating that they were yet to receive guidelines.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), in March this year issued orders extending the validity of expired driving licences till June 30 this year. The documents include fitness, permit, driving licence, registration and other documents, whose validity could not be renewed due to the lockdown since February 1, 2020 or would expire by March 31, 2021.

The Ministry also issued an advisory that the validity of the documents that expired since February 1, the same should be treated to be valid till June 30, 2021. The enforcement authorities were told to treat such documents valid till June 30, this year.

Karunakar Reddy, whose driving licence expired in 2020, went to renew his licence in the first week of April at the RTA office in Khairatabad. However, the authorities said that he has to undergo re-test to get his licence back. When Reddy pointed out that the Centre issued orders, the authorities said that they were yet to get orders.

The motorists are fuming at the authorities alleging that they were indulging only in collecting money from them and not providing any services. The Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union general secretary M Dayanand questioned the double standard of the transport authorities in the State. "When Centre brought guidelines of taking retest if the validity of the licence expires, the transport department was quick to implement the orders. But, when it came to extending the validity, they are simply saying that they did not get the orders.

The authorities just cannot wash off their hands by stating that they did not get the orders in the digital era. The authorities should immediately implement the orders," said Dayanand.

The State government started the retest on December 24, last year immediately after the Centre issued guidelines. On December 24, last year when a motorist Irudaya Raj K, a resident of Lalaguda, Secunderabad applied for renewal of his licence with late fee, he was asked to go for re-test including learner's licence and also the driving test.Dayanand said that the authorities for the sake of a few hundred rupees were exploiting the citizens. He said that it was not the money but the process was time consuming, he said, demanding the government to immediately implement the Central orders.