The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Transport Department’s website needs more drive

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Sunday, Oct 26, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Transport Department’s website needs more drive

Anil Kumar Sastry

Website still has Sageer Ahmed as Transport Minister
Official says process of revamping site is on

BANGALORE: At a time when people hardly have time to visit government offices, information technology has come in handy for dissemination of information in many departments. However, the Transport Department — among the top revenue earners and which touches the lives of the common man — does not appear to feel that way.

The department’s website, www.rto.kar.nic.in, falls short of expectations. Except for a few omnibus sections such as provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, frequently asked questions, organisational chart, services, transport adalat and the like, the website does not offer much. The only recent update is the revised autorickshaw fare chart for Bangalore city.

Outdated

The section titled ‘Impact of computerisation’ still has pictures of the former Transport Minister C.R. Sageer Ahmed (S.M. Krishna Government) and the then Transport Commissioner, T. Thimme Gowda, launching the computerisation process. After Mr. Ahmed, the State has seen B. Ramanath Rai, M. Mallikarjun Kharge and N. Cheluvarayaswamy as Transport Ministers. At present R. Ashok is the Minister.

The department has been implementing the computerisation process for eight years. However, the proposal to interconnect all regional transport offices with the Transport Commissioner’s office is yet to materialise.

Disappointment is in store for those who wish to find out the total number of vehicles registered in the State or in a specific district, or the rate of accidents, or even information on road safety, as these details are not available on the site.

On the other hand, on the Tamil Nadu Transport Department’s website, www.tn.gov.in/sta, and on the Andhra Pradesh Transport Department’s website, www.aptransport.org, plenty of information and statistics have been made available.

Even websites of several Karnataka Government departments are full of information and regular updates. While www.maratavahini.kar.nic.in, the official website of the Agricultural Marketing Department, is updated daily with the day’s arrival and price of produce, www.ksp.gov.in, the website of the State Police is also up to date.

A senior official in the Transport Department told The Hindu that the process of revamping the website was on.

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