Terming the COVID-19 pandemic ‘a grim situation’, the union transport ministry further extended the validity of documents related to motor vehicles like driving licence, registration certificate and permits, which had expired on February 1 till June 30 this year. The first extension was announced on March 30 last year and since then there have been five such extensions.

A senior transport department official said that the extension was announced to avoid crowding and long queues at Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) across the nation. A few of the services have also been put online and linked with Aadhar cards. The Maharashtra transport department is also working on getting the services online.