Introduction

The Department of Transport in Madhya Pradesh is, like in any other state, engaged in various activities.

Broadly, these activities may be classified as follows:-

• Registration of Motor Vehicle
• Issue and Renewal of Driving Licences
• State and National Permits for Good Carriage
• Issue of Permits for Stage and Contract Carriages.
• Taxation

The Administrative setup of the department in the state is as follows:-
The Headquarters of Transport Department is located at Gwalior. The Secretary, STA is also located at Headquarters and is responsible for issuances of new state and National Permits.
There are RTOs and RTAs offices located in the District Headquarters, whose duties include Registration of Motor Vehicles and issuance / renewal of Driving Licenses, Road Taxation, Checking of illegal vehicle plying in their area.

Recent Initiatives

E-sewa

Department has recently started SMS based and internet based “E-sewa”. SMS server and web server have been established at the front end of the central database server at Gwalior; all the information related to any vehicle registered in M.P. can be obtained by any citizen using SMS or internet, free of cost.
This system helps the common man and Enforcement Agencies like police in verification of ownership and other details. This has proved to be a great tool for Police in investigating hit and run cases and vehicle theft cases. Citizens are using this system for finding authentic ownership and year of make before purchasing old vehicles. SMS system is evoking a great response; about 1000 queries are coming every day.
The E-sewa portal of the Transport Department, Madhya Pradesh at www.mptransport.org provides a lot of static and dynamic information on the internet. All forms needed by the public or the department officials for various applications, issue of certificates etc. are available at the website. Also all the laws, rules and standing instructions relating to the department’s work have been uploaded. SMS system and E-sewa portal are free of charge.

MIS

A very strong MIS has been designed, encompassing all the management need of the organisation. All the employees have been trained in using this MIS. It is being effectively used to nab the tax evaders and improve the tax collection of the department.

• National permits issued on security paper with hologram affixed (since 2004) has eliminated the chances of fake permits.
• Permits for vehicles are being issued by computers, which checks routes and tax payment status, helping to stop tax evasion.
• Driving License and Vehicle Registration Certificate are being issued on Smart Cards since last five years. This has also created a vast electronic database of Driving Licenses and Registration Certificates and the concerned persons and the vehicles, which is being used for analysis and action.
• Learners’ License test in four major cities is now totally computerized and transparent.
• Fitness certificate being issued through computer helps in updating and maintaining complete record of vehicles, including tax payment status.
• Entire Fee and Tax payment is processed through computerized system, where, the reconciliation system ensures that no fraud is possible. Treasury and Banks are also being linked with the system, in the near future, which would make accounting default free.

Near Future Initiatives

• A very hi-tech Dealer Point Registration system is being introduced whereby, the Licensed Dealers of non-transport vehicles are being delegated powers of “Registering Authority” to register and to give registration numbers of the vehicles sold by them, at the time of sale itself. Citizen will not have to come to RTO office for obtaining his registration certificate.
• For convenience of citizen, an e-Treasury application is being developed through which, the public can pay their Fees and Taxes using Credit Cards and Debit Cards. This application will commence operation from 01.04.2007.

Results achieved / anticipated

Smart Card based Digital System started in Jan ’02 replacing Department’s paper based forms and manual record keeping system. These cards can be read with the help of card reading machines and hand held terminals with district offices and field officers respectively and can be upgraded regularly.

Public:

Ease and convenience in transaction, increased transparency in the system has built-up confidence among the public. The data generated and stored in smart cards is available on the internet also, this has made all transactions easy, simple, quick and convenient. Ill effects of the agent system have been reduced to a great extent.

Department/Government:

The following chart depicts the growth in revenue of the Department.

Revenue Rupees in Crores

A steady growth of 15% is also being observed during the current financial year 2006-07 over the 15% growth achieved in 2005-06. The on-line MIS portal has enabled the Department to closely monitor the revenue, slippage and list of defaulters.

Police Department:

The traffic enforcement wing is now not dependent on the staff of the Transport Department to collect any information, as everything is available on the net with a few clicks of the mouse button. The project has been implemented in a BOOT model without any cost to the Government. The vendor is paid on per card basis, out of the fee paid by the citizen as prescribed by the Central Government.

• Viability and sustainability

  The operation of the issuing smart cards is on “No Cost to Government” basis, It actually generates additional Government revenue of Rs. 100/- per card. The vendor is responsible for creating and maintaining MIS and other citizen centric services.

• Lessons learned

  Maintenance of client-server architecture is a very tedious, challenging and difficult task, so the department has decided to graduate to a web enabled central architecture.

• Transferability/Replication

A network of computers has been established and the project implemented across the state at each of the 45 districts offices of the Transport Department. Each office is connected to the central server at Head Office. The system can easily be replicated in other States. The Transport Commissioner, Madhya Pradesh has already given a presentation on the project at Transport Ministry, Government of India in May ’06, in presence of Transport Authorities of all States.