Objective Interface - Official Website of Howrah District

E-Governance at Howrah
VAHAN and SARATHI
Introduction
Project Details
Road Transport plays a vital role in the economy of the Government. Hence
introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to bring about
modernization and efficiency in this Sector is not just important but crucial to the
Country’s progress.
Computerization in this Sector had been initiated by a number of State
Governments, notably Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, Goa and
others. However, the approach was different for each State keeping in view only
the local requirements. The shape of documents was also non-uniform. The
differences in the user perception, local objectives and limited resources lead to
widely different levels of computerization, software functionality and level of
success.
In the year 2000, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) decided
that in view of growing volumes, non-uniformity of document, heterogeneity of
data formats and huge cost of application software it was important to evolve and
implement standards. In 2002, NIC and MoRTH entered into a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to develop core software for Vehicle Registration and
Driving License workflow process computerization.
Objective
VAHAN (for Vehicle Registration) and SARATHI (for Driving License) softwares
have been developed with the objective of implementing uniform data structure
for Registration of Vehicles and Issuance of Driving Licenses to facilitate
creation of State and National Registers for RC (Registration Certificate) and DL
(Driving License). The basic philosophy behind this is to usher in transparency,
responsiveness and citizen friendly e-governance through computerization of
records and processes at the Transport Offices.
Outcome
Computerization has benefited the Government in terms of efficiency, revenues
and transparency in information collected. It has ensured better services to the
Citizen, transparent interface between the Government and the Citizen and
proper implementation of the Central Motor Vehicle Act 1988 (CMVA) and
Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989 (CMVR).
Total computerization of records and processes on a standardized software has
ensured management of the Transport Offices in an efficient manner.
Some of the major highlights of VAHAN and SARATHI softwares have been :
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