Sir,

I have been reading of corruption-free efficient services at the Office of RTO in Mysuru, often in these columns. In fact my own experience there, about two years back, when I went to renew my DL also proved the point that they had become efficient in their ways of working as much as the Officer who facilitated the renewal was very courteous and helpful. And the entire team in the RTO’s Office deserved appreciation and encouragement.

This feel good factor about my experience in RTO’s Office two years back has diminished after my recent experience with them in the last three months. I lost my original DL in the month of Sept. 2018 and hence had to apply for a duplicate one. I completed the process of filing a complaint with the Lakshmipuram Police Station and then submitted an application for issue of a duplicate DL on Sept. 17, 2018 (Application No. 2299678218).

I then completed the balance activity of providing biometrics and the procedure of ‘scrutiny’ at their Mysore West Office on Sept.20, 2018 which took almost 3 hours of my time standing in different long queues.

I could see a lot of middlemen getting their jobs completed with the officers concerned in no time, while we (the ones who had not gone through the middlemen) had to wait in long queues outside the Office. It is obvious the middlemen are in the good books of these Officers, for reasons which need not be stated and hence get the privilege of direct access to them without the need to stand in the queues to get their jobs done.

While I have no grouse about these middlemen, the general public are taken for granted and made to wait for the benefit of a few within and outside RTO’s Office!

Further this does not go well with the ‘corruption-free efficient services’ name the RTO has earned for himself. I am a senior citizen and I left their Office after I was told that there is nothing more to be done on my part and the duplicate DL will be sent by post within the next 30 days.

It is close to 4 months and I am yet to get my duplicate DL. Telephone calls are not generally answered and when answered you are asked to visit their Office. After a few visits in the last 3 months, I was able to get my application approved only on Dec. 1, 2018. And I still patiently wait for this elusive duplicate DL. So much for the corruption-free efficient services of RTO West!

– B. Prahlad Achar, Lakshmipuram, 8.1.2019

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