International Driving License

31 Mar

Yesterday I applied for an International Driving Permit. Went to the RTA office after about 4 years. Things have changed considerably. They have setup a help desk on the premises. Right next to the help desk, there is a place where all sorts of application forms are sold at a nominal fee of Rs. 1 per form. The forms counter opens 30 minutes before the help desk and token counters open. This is a very good thinking. People can buy forms and complete then while they are waiting in the queue. The token counter verifies the completeness of the forms and gives a token number for each form. Upto 10 persons are called into the 5 counters inside the office complex in each iteration. So the number of people in the actual processing queue at any point of time are only two.

I was riding my luck for the first 30 minutes or so and completed most of the process within that time. Once I reached the processing counter, my luck ran out. The lady at the counter took very long time to process the application. On top of that, the admin in charge, who is supposed to verify and initial on  the forms, is backlogged with long queues.

Once these formalities are completed, I was asked to get my photo taken for the card.  They took a digital photo of me. However, they issue a handwritten booklet for the international driving permit. So they asked me to give a printed photograph. Luckily, I have one in my wallet and could complete the phase.

I was asked to collect the license in the evening. However, I couldn’t go there because of some work related delays. Have to collect in next week.