Ranchi, Dec. 5: Getting your driving licence just got a tad easier.

The district transport office today formally joined a central online application system furthering an administrative proposal to go completely paperless from January.

DTO Nagendra Paswan said one could now apply for both learner's licence and driving licence online. "The system is much like the online passport service. At the moment, the payment mode is still offline, but soon online payment facilities will be introduced," he said.

An official of National Informatics Centre (NIC), Jharkhand chapter, explained how the system worked. "One has to log in to the Union road transport ministry website - https://parivahan.gov.in/sarathiservice - and under driving licence section on the left click on the apply online tab. Then, one can fill up relevant details and upload documents," he said, adding that the online payment system would be up and running in a week.

Does this mean that an applicant won't have to visit the district transport office?

"No. The applicant will have to visit the transport office to get documents verified and record biometric details, thumb impression to be precise. There is an option to book an appointment slot just like one does while applying for a passport. For instance, if one is looking for a permanent licence, one has to appear for a driving test. So, a slot must be booked accordingly," the NIC official said.

According to sources, the NIC had linked smaller districts like Khunti, Ramgarh, Gumla and Godda to the system two months ago to assess feasibility. A month ago, all the 24 district transport offices in Jharkhand were brought on board the central web, but glitches at local level were preventing proper launch everywhere.

"In Ramgarh and Khunti districts, the system is running fine; but, in Jamshedpur (East Singhbhum) and Hazaribagh, we are coming across problems such as lack of proper expertise among officials there. We also came to know that the system in Godda isn't working. We are trying to fix it," the NIC official said.

East Singhbhum DTO Sanjay Kujur said they had conducted trial runs, but a formal launch was awaited because they were setting up high-capacity servers and training workforce.

Ranchi DTO Paswan said they should not experience glitches because the district administration had been conducting workshops to go paperless across all departments since the last week of November.