Apply For DL From Anywhere In Odisha

People line up for pollution control certificates of their vehicles at a petrol filling station in Bhubaneswar in September 2019. Photograph: Suprakash Mishra.

Cuttack: Odisha has seen more learning licences (LL) issued in the last two months compared to the whole of 2018, in the aftermath of the new Motor Vehicles Act.

Around 3.51 lakh LLs have been issued during September and October, while only 3.48 lakh were issued in 2018.

Under the direction of CMO, the State Transport Commissioner, Sanjeeb Panda has taken various steps to increase the testing capacity by providing more computers, conducting camps in far off places, opening of office beyond usual hours, reducing test slot duration etc.

The State Transport Authority has also authorised 618 Pollution Testing Units (PTUs) to conduct the Pollution Under Control (PUC) test, having added 378 units in the last two months to accommodate the long queues. Both online and offline PUC certificates are valid till December 31. 580 PTUs out of 618 have been connected in online mode with VAHAN server and about 10 lakh online PUC certificates have been issued in the last two months.

To ease the process of obtaining a driving licence (DL), citizens can now apply at any RTO in the state. Earlier, applicants could apply for DL only at RTOs of the area they were residing or had address proof of. Similarly, one can also pre-book any registration number for the vehicle in any RTO of the state without residential restriction of the concerned RTO, Panda said in a statement.