Photos, text vanish from new RTO smart cards

The futuristic smart card driving licences that have been made mandatory are substandard and several people are flocking to RTOs with complaints of the disappearing print

Photos, text vanish from new RTO smart cards

The futuristic smart card driving licences that have been made mandatory are substandard and several people are flocking to RTOs with complaints of the disappearing print

The transport department's smart card licence is, within two years of its launch, experiencing an embarrassing loss of face the photograph and print on the card simply disappears in a few months.

The Regional Transport Offices (RTO) have been receiving numerous smart card-related complaints every day.
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Nasim Qasim Shaikh (58) got his licence changed from the old booklet variety one to a smart card in 2007.

"I want my old licence back. I opted for smart card because it was easy to carry and the RTO made it mandatory. But now, neither my picture nor the writing is visible on the card," said Shaikh.

The Transport Department made the smart card licences mandatory in mid-2007. Till date, 29,36,882 smart card licences have been issued in all the 45 offices of the RTO. People are wary of exchanging their manual licences for smart cards, but are being compelled to do so when they go to the RTO to renew their licences.

Haji Nasir Sheikh, an RTO agent at Tardeo, said, "Most people who own old licences know that the smart cards
are substandard. Only citizens who are applying for fresh licences and are unaware are opting for the smart cards."

And Deepak Kapoor, transport commissioner, RTO, said, "I have also received lots of complaints pertaining the smart cards. We are meeting the service provider, who manufactured the cards in the last week of February.

They have promised us a solution."

Who is to blame?
National Informatics Centre (NIC), Bangalore and Hyderabad, developed the software for the smart cards, while UTL, a Hyderabad-based company, has been awarded contract of issuing these licences and its back-end operations. A smart card licence costs Rs 200, of which UTL keeps Rs 112 and the balance goes to the state government funds.

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