Srinagar, June 12: If the Traffic Department is to be believed, the Regional Transport Offices in Jammu and Kashmir are issuing driving licenses to aspirants without conducting any driving tests, generating a huge number of untrained drivers.
“As per the amended Motor Vehicles Rules, the driving licenses are being issued by the RTOs of the state without the requisite driving tests, generating a huge number of untrained drivers. They can safely play with the license system as Traffic Police, not they, continue to bear the brunt of driving by such untrained drivers,” writes the former inspector general of police (Traffic), Muhammad Amin Shah, in the Trafficinfo 2010, the Department’s annual publication.
He terms it as a great injustice. “There are a number of under-trained drivers who process driving licenses to drive the vehicles. But mere possession of driving license without having sufficient knowledge of the rules and the skills of safe driving don’t make them fully qualified drivers,” Shah writes, adding, “Such drivers, by and large, are responsible for huge accidents and the fatalities thereof.”
The Traffiinfo mentions that obtaining a license was no longer an uphill task.
According to Shah, driving tests are held as a formality and the driving schools have just become fashion. “This bad practice makes the unqualified persons to possess the driving licenses. They lack sufficient knowledge about the rules and skills of perfect driving. Most of the driving schools in J&K don’t have the minimum infrastructure and trained instructors. They are also not properly supervised and monitored by the authorities,” he writes.
Shah has also referred to the “menace” of unlicensed driving in the state. In 2009, 23,802 drivers were fined for driving without licenses and 12,099 were fined in 2008 for the same reason. “This confirms that the un-licensed driving is as much prevalent in the state as in other states. This is more visible among the youth people who drive bikes and light vehicles without a valid license,” he writes.
According to Shah, it is high time to review the driving license system and put the aspirants to a rigorous written and practical test before a license is issued to them.
However, the Regional Transport Officer, Kashmir, Muhammad Anees, disagrees with the Traffic Police version. “No body is given a license without appearing in the mandatory driving tests. We have a computerised system. You have to appear personally before the camera, and we note down all your particulars. Unless I don’t approve that, nobody would issue a license. We check all the credentials of a person before giving him a learning license, and then put him to driving tests, before issuing a formal license to the aspirant,” he told Greater Kashmir.
Anees said they have made the license procurement process simpler. “We have made the procedures so easy. We conduct the driving tests regularly. It is sort of a psychological exercise. It removes the fears of drivers and our tests are evoking a warm response,” he said.
Pertinently, the RT offices in the state are accused of being the institutions where touts rule the roost. The recent reports in the media suggest that the touts give a learner’s license for Rs 600 and a formal license for Rs 4000 to Rs 5000.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 12 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 13 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST