the goan I network
PANAJI
Upset with a glitch in the central transport ministry website when he tried to renew his licence, a senior citizen from Panaji on Monday wrote to Union Minister for Transport Nitin Gadkari requesting his help to sort out the glitch.
The senior citizen’s grievance pertained to having to pay a fine in connection with the expiry of his transport licence. The complainant held a dual license -- one to drive transport vehicles, which was valid till September 2017, and the second, a non-transport licence, which is valid till 21 September 2019.
In his complaint, he explained that he wished to renew only his non-transport licence through the website parivahan.gov.in. He also approached the local RTO office in the capital city. Since he was no longer interested in renewing his transport licence (which permitted him to drive heavy vehicles), he did not apply to renew that. “I am not interested in renewing (the transport licence) even now as I don’t drive transport vehicles,” his complaint stated.
He was, however, told to pay a hefty penalty since he had not renewed his transport licence before it expired. “I understand that the new software recently installed doesn’t have the option to select only non-transport licence renewal and so the penalty is imposed on the whole. I fail to understand why I should pay the penalty for not renewing the transport license, which I am not using,” he stated in his complaint.
He has asked the Minister to see that the necessary changes in the software are made to accommodate such cases creating hardship for senior citizens like himself.
The complainant also told The Goan on Monday evening that transport officials had been extremely co-operative with him, and that Transport Director Rajan Satardekar had assured him that the issue would be resolved in a couple of days.
