Asia's first Smart Cards Driving
Licence system launched in Gujarat.
Gujarat has achieved the
unique distinction of having Asia's first electronic chip based Smart
Card Driving Licence System in the country. To be implemented by the Delhi-based
Smart Chip Limited, with equipment imported from Orga Kartensysteme GmbH
of Germany, the Rs 60 crore project promises to vastly improve traffic
systems as well as functioning of the State Road Transport Offices (RTOs),
without increasing the cost of individual licences.
Says Orga’s Executive Vice
President Paul Hill, "This is the biggest and most prestigious project
of its kind in Asia and represents a major breakthrough for us. Smart
Card technology works best in developing countries like India, where it
has the potential to benefit society at large." The microchip embedded
plastic driving license, looks similar to a credit-card, will have the
capability to store a range of data, including an individual’s photograph,
signature and finger prints. This can he accessed through hand-held terminals
to be supplied to traffic police, who will also be able to enter details
of traffic violations into the card.
Speaking on the occasion,
transport minister Bimal Shah said with the introduction of Smart Card
driving licence, corruption will be minimised in the department. Earlier,
anyone wanting to get a licence would get it by paying some money to an
agent but now everyone will have to personally visit the Regional Transport
Office to get a licence. He said, it would be made compulsory for everyone
in Gujarat to have a Smart Card driving licence within a year.
For this, he state plans
to convert existing 10 million driving licences to the electronic mode
over the next two years. In addition, the one million new licences issued
annually will be in the form of the smart card. Inaugurating the new licence-issuing
centre at the Ahmedabad RTO on Monday, Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel
said the state will invest in the latest information technology (IT) to
improve the quality of services in other departments as well. The equipment
supply contract for the Driving Licence project has been won by Smart
Chip-Orga combine against in a tender-bidding project that has been two
years in the making. Under the agreement, Smart Chip will supervise operations
in the initial stages, as well as provide training to RTO personnel and
traffic police.
The Rs 20-crore turnover
company has so far implemented 20 other projects in the country, with
clients ranging from UNICEF (which is using the technology to monitor
water usage in three million wells across the country) to retail outlets
like Akbarally’s in Mumbai and Snow White in Delhi (which use it in their
customer loyalty programmes). It is also bidding for projects with various
state governments, including Maharashtra, AP and Tamilnadu.
Says Smart Chip director
Sanjeev Shriya, "They can be used as ration cards, in health & insurance,
in banking or simply as identity cards. There are one billion smart cards
in Europe and in future, we are sure every Indian will possess one." The
250 million Deutchmark Orga is the largest supplier of SIM cards used
in cellphones in India and has manufacturing facilities in Germany, Russia,
China, South Africa and Brazil.
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Compiled from local news media
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