NEW DELHI: Around 16 lakh Delhiites have benefitted from the first-of-its-kind “faceless” services introduced by the Delhi government’s transport department last year, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday. He said other states were now introducing similar services and the Delhi government would be more than happy to handhold them.
Inspecting the Sarai Kale Khan RTO and automated driving test track (ADTT), along with transport minister Kailash Gahlot and senior transport officials, Kejriwal said Delhi was paving the way for new-age governance through initiatives like faceless services and automated driving test tracks, which had wiped out corruption.
Faceless services were implemented on a pilot basis in February last year and implemented across the national capital by August 2021. “We marked this momentous occasion by symbolically locking a government office — to show that Delhi residents were not required to take offs from work or wander around offices, wait in long lines or chase agents,” Kejriwal said, adding he found the counters that used to be swarmed with around 2,000 people every day nearly empty during his visit.
“Following the footsteps of our model, other states, starting with Karnataka, are also introducing similar services,” Kejriwal said. “We will be more than happy to assist the governments that wish to implement this mechanism in their states. The nation will truly progress only when we all learn from each other’s innovative ideas and good work,” he added.
“Almost all big and small states have come to Delhi and visited our offices to study the Kejriwal model of faceless services, stringent tests at ADTTs etc,” Gahlot told TOI. “People are very happy with this facility,” he tweeted after the visit, adding that Delhi has 12 ADTTs.
Kejriwal said the government had authorised dealers to issue vehicle registration documents, eliminating an “added step of making the rounds of government offices”. “Many of these steps involved middlemen and bribery, which we have cut at the source,” he pointed out. It was said that bribes collected by low-level officers went all the way to the top; but now that no one at higher levels tolerates corruption, no one at the lower levels needs to collect bribes either, he claimed.
“Because of the elimination of corruption at all levels and our staunchly honest governance, we are able to implement such revolutionary systems and bring relief to Delhi residents,” he said, claiming that ADTTs had made it impossible for anyone to get a fake licence. Though 50% candidates have failed their driving test, it only pushes them to become better drivers to earn a licence, he said.
