Motihari, Oct. 16: Once known for its laggard work pace and heaps of pending files, the district transport office is buzzing with activities these days.

The implementation of Right to Public Service Act (RTPS) in August this year has been a lifesaver for the residents of the district. District transport officials, who were often seen engaged in altercations/clashes with applicants, are now focussing hard on performance and conduct.

The ratio of disposal of applications, including public grievances, and the graph of revenue collection since the implementation of RTPS has jumped manifold at the district transport office. The work pace has, in fact, made the district transport office a source of inspiration for other state government offices.

District transport officer Dinesh Kumar Rai, who took charge in July, said: “According to the official records, recovery of dues has been Rs 87.47 lakh against the target of Rs 71.33 lakh in July, Rs 82.19 lakh against the target of Rs 65.78 lakh in August and Rs 70.08 lakh against the target of Rs 63.27 lakh in September, this year. We have achieved 122 per cent, 124.95 per cent and 121 per cent success respectively.”

The number of public complaints have also come down over the past few months because of the fast pace of redress, Rai said, adding that the matters pending at present are stuck mostly because of technical formalities, which are to be completed either by the office or the parties concerned.

On the receipt and disposal of various public petitions related to issuing learners or permanent licences, vehicle transfer and others, the DTO told The Telegraph: “Despite a huge manpower crunch, we have already disposed of more that 3,200 public petitions against a total 4,123 received under the RTPS Act since August 16.”

Nawlesh Kumar, Chandra Kant Tewari, Saleem Khan, Suresh Kumar and Shailesh Kumar Yadav, who had applied for learners’ licence, are ready to testify the claim. They have received their document a day after they had applied for the same.

According to the provisions of the RTPS Act, matters related to the transport department are to be disposed of within seven to 45 working days, according to the nature of the application.

Recipients of the driving licence in the district are also satisfied with the quality of their smart cards. The quality of the cards has improved during the past months, said Rai. Sriven Patna, the company given the contract by the state government to prepare the smart cards, has been warned to replace unskilled computer operators to improve the quality of the smart cards, Rai added.