The driver’s license renewal time has come, just 20 days away. It’s very easy, you can do it online. Well…
You apply for it online, however with all the printouts of duly filled up forms, you have to go to the RTO (Regionsl transport office), form 9, 1 and 1A.
Please read on, dont go away, you will need my experience.
In that case, I take a print out from cyber cafe shop (printer at home, cartridge ink over), of the 3 forms and fills them. Form 1 A is for senior citizens, medical certificate which requires a stamp and signature of a government medico., Adhaar card for date of birth and address proof. All done, walk into the RTO office, agents were crowing around to help for a fee. No need, all operations are transparent and orderly in RTO office.
The help desk tells me, for renewal of DL go to room no. 4. I did not know, it’s only the beginning, there are more rooms to go in and out. First to room no. 4. The officer goes through the documents and attached adhaar card and asks “where is the application number ?”. Eh, I thought it was going to be given by the RTO. I said I don’t have. You have not filled it online. I said “no”. When I have to do so many things manually, why trouble on line, I thought. What do I have to do, I asked. You have to apply online ( she writes the site address parivahan.gov.in) and you will get an application number. Get that and these forms.
I came out of the RTO office, thinking of going home ( the RTO office is walking distance from my house, not many are fortunate like me) and do the online stuff. Rajeesh had come with me , he suggested a shop near by where they can applicate online for you. I thought of doing everything on my own, an after thought, I agreed. At home I will have to navigate through the whole operation, not sure how much time and effort, system has to behave, UPS has to work in case of power failure, internet should be up and so on. Here these guys can do it with their eyes closed. And that is what they did. In half an hour, it was done and I walk into room no.4 again, hands over the papers, with a give me my license smile.She goes through the documents and asks, where is form 9. Where did you get this done ? She raised her voice. I said there and pointed in a direction. What is the name of the shop ? Oh , looked like she wanted to blast the shop for doing a lousy job. Is it near that, this. I don’t know. I went back to the ….😍.. shop (that’s the name) which the lady wanted to know, got form9.The lady showed no interest when I told her the shop name, I wonder what was the shouting for, earlier. She puts her initials and asks me to go to the cash counter and pay a fees. I do that and back to room no.4. She checks and tells me to go to room 1. You may have got bored reading this, not me, me needs the license. That’s her boss in room 1 , puts his signature and I ask his assistant who is standing next to him, where should I go from here. He says first floor for photo. I have brought 16 copies of my photos ( that’s the minimum the studio gives for his charges).
I carry all the papers and go to the first floor and there is a que in front of the room that says biometrics. Before my turn came, after half an hour in the que, I noticed people in the que are either talking on the phone or texting or or are with their hands in their pockets. I showed the guy behind me, my documents and asked where’s his. He showed me a small chit and said I submitted it in room no.4 and they give a small chit with application number. He said go get it and come back and join the que in front of me. Back to room no.4 and I give my documents and get the chit.
When I reach the first floor again the que has moved and my reference point has finished his job and gone. When I tried to explain to the new guy, my sob story of wasting half an hour right here before going to room no 4 for the chit , everybody offered me the position right behind each of them and I found myself at the end of the line. Very kind of them.
There was a new threat, the race between the approaching lunch break and me making it to the photo room. I beat the lunch break made it in the nick, went to room no. 4 and gave them the paper from the photo room. Game over and they said I will receive it by post.
It’s my clumsiness and the weakness of not asking for direction that made operation renewal dramatic.
Any of you going to your RTO office in the near future, log in to the site parivahan and fill in the required fields, take a print out of all the forms, you can also do on line payment and submit to the office. It may not be room no.4 for you, check , it will be some other room. The time taking activity may be in the que for photo. The photo session should take 3 minutes. It’s as simple as that, rest leave it to your clumsy stars.
I am lucky to have an RTO near my home and a renewed driving license, what I dont have is a car since last one year. I am carless.
Rajmenon's Blog 
Like your narration and as I had been to this place very recently I could relate to the room numbers and stuff albeit I took a broker’s assistance. Half way through the process I realised the broker who’s carrying my documents is the sultan of all broker’s and in less than 20 mins I was out of RTO building with the DL in my hand, I couldn’t believe that myself. But destiny had other plans, I had parked my car by 10 am and two gentleman who came a little later parked their cars right behind my car blocking the way. I took a pic of both the cars and went into the building again, the lady at the entrance stopped me and I explained my ordeal, she laughed at my plight and allowed me in. The next step is to identify the Honda city and Indica owners. I checked with every guy if they have parked their cars showing them the car pic , the reactions on their face were like, how will this fellow identify the owner amongst so many, my linguistic skills were best used here, if I come across a north indian it starts with a bhai Saab and few others dressed formally in English. Nothing helped. I felt what if the owner had removed the car while I’m away and so to check, I ran back to the parking but those cars gave me a devilish grin. I rushed to the building back fuming this time and repeated the process all over barged into every room too this time. After 20 mins haplessly I came out and went near the car and was explaining my plight to another taxi driver near my car and then I find the Honda city beeps and the owner reaching the door. Well this gentleman doesnt know that if not for him I could have finished my job with a permission at office and now I had to apply for half a days leave. Very politely I asked him is it right on his part to block a car this way and isn’t it common sense. He made a apologetic face and reversed the car. The happiness of getting the DL in 20 mins was short lived and it was a lesson learnt on not to take the innermost slot of parking.
Even without the broker it’s half an hour job. It’s my lousy process that made it dramatic. The plus point for you is you got your dl in your hand. Mine is yet to come by post. Until that comes the game is not over for me. I had written it’s an easy process, rest depends on your clumsy stars. Your experience is star struck. 🙂
My experience is about Medical Certificate. All the documents were ok but Cashier refused to take payment stating Medical Certificate is not in acceptable format. Suggested the list of medicos to obtain the Medical Certificate. I am not as fortunate as you to have RTO walking distance from home. Through my know friend I could catch hold of a RTO Agent and got the work done in half an hour with same Medical Certificate. How their corelation works God only knows. Five years back my woes.
Online system at that time was not operational
In my case, the RTO was perfect, it’s me the imperfect one
I applied for my DL renewal through online process, uploaded address proof, photo and signature. Fee is also paid online after lot of struggling. Visited Govt hospital (PHC) for medical certification as i am senior citizen and visited room no 4, room no 1 and again first floor room no 8 for photo and signature and paid Rs50 for photo and signature. I have already uploaded online my photo and signature. Finally I got my DL after 60 days.
That’s where the stars come in 🙂
One more place where u r driven from room to room is d passport office. Experts in making u fill forms and re-stand in d queue .
Here only two forms are there, three for senior citizens. Its overall half an hour job and b the RTO is very efficient these days inspite of the workload.
Dr Sarad Wagle
Raj, I wouldn’t put my faith in the online process. The parivahan.gov.in site is supposedly applicable across the country and this is a positive development. But I found two major problems completing the online process. You get an application number alright. But the need for government approved medico is the first showstopper. Who can tell you that? And they expect you to know them, go to them and get the medical certificate all with a poker face – if websites have a face that is.
The second problem was one of circularity. It required something that you are supposed to get when you visit the RTO. I tried my best to break my head over the problem but to no avail. I gave up. At least half the sites in the supposedly digitized world are developed without a clue about the user for whom they are written. I wonder if Gadkari’s people who developed the site ever got an aam admi to get a license using the site.
What did I do? I coughed up money (Rs 500 + fees with receipts) to a broker. He waived his magic wand and produced the license for me. In all my life I must have got my license renewed 7-8 times not counting the international driving license which one had to get a fresh one every year. (Thank god they now accept Indian license in US provided it is a chip card.) Each time it was I who would troop to the RTO which takes an hour to reach. Each time there would be two trips one to submit and the other to collect. There will be a queue for getting the RTO officer’s approval signature and the brokers would wrestle you to get ahead. But I prided myself of never using a broker. That pride went for a toss when I broke my own rule. It was either that or I drive without license and worse I do so in US.
Digitization should eliminate several manual links / steps that were needed when we lived in the stone age of paper and pen. Indeed, I hardly use my cheque book these days because 90% of my payments are done with online banking and takes 2-3 minutes each from the comfort of your home and at any time of the day. But the broker community survives all such adversities and adapt to the new world with a finesse.
Your punchline was great. It is equivalent to saying that these days even dead require Aadhaar card. What would have happened if you had told the person at the counter that you did not have a car. You would have been surely denied the card you hold now.
Dr Wagle
Dr Wagle, for your comment even the dead requires an Aadhaar card, I was carrying the photo of my old car, in case :-).
Two experiences above, for Mr Sailendra and Mr Sastri, their RTO jobs were over in half an hour, not the game
All the writings were amusing to read, after all it is not my need, after all i am chauffeured around, WwWoWwww…..
Interestingly my Driver has gone to his hometown to get his DL renewed n he is yet to return…..
He must be enjoying his on-duty-vacation where as i am cooling my heels feeling you people’s Experiences of Form-fillings n Room-hoppings…..
Experiences are great always…..
Earlier you found it hard to.make an entry with your comments. Now it’s been sorted, its compensating by appearing twice 😉
All the writings were amusing to read, after all it is not my need, i am being chauffeured around, WwWoWwww…..
Interestingly my Driver has gone to his hometown to get his DL renewed n he is yet to return…..
He must be enjoying his on-duty-vacation where as i am cooling my heels feeling you people’s Experiences of Form-fillings n Room-hoppings…..
Experiences are great always…..