Chhimi Dema  

Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA), following complaints from clients, opened temporary service stations at three locations in Thimphu to fast track renewal of vehicle registration certificate and roadworthiness certificate. 

However, only about a thousand individuals visited the stations in a week ending yesterday.

The stations were established at Dechencholing, lower Babesa truck parking and Changlimithang car parking. 

RSTA’s Officiating Director General Ugyen Norbu said that the service stations were set up to follow the health protocols and also address complaints on delay in services.

“People would crowd in front of the office failing to follow the health protocols. Moreover, the bus terminal and RSTA counters were recognised as high-risk public areas since people travelling from across the country gather here.”

One of the clients at Babesa station, Dorji Wangmo said that it was convenient to avail services from the station as the services were prompt.

“It was difficult to get parking space at the RSTA office,” she said.

Ugyen Norbu said that there were technical glitches during online transactions. There were transaction issues with the banks, Royal Monetary Authority, Public Services and Grievances Redressal Division, and RSTA’s server.

“Technical issues caused inconvenience. Therefore, these service stations have an accountant each to provide either e-receipts or manual receipts,” he said.

Ugyen Norbu said that the three service stations would clear the backlog of tasks from previous months. There were about 14,000 backlog cases from March until October.

The 1010 toll-free number was used to remind the vehicle owners of document renewal.

RSTA earlier notified that the deadline to renew documents was December 31. It issued a second notification announcing the new deadline as November 1.

“People wait till the last moment to get the fitness certificate and renew their vehicle registration certificate. From November we would levy a penalty for the defaulters,” he said.

During the highway inspection, police would record drivers with expired documents. “After the November deadline, if people say that they were unaware of the deadline then we would cross-check with police records and 1010 call logs and levy fines accordingly.”

The stations will be opened till October 29.

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