- Bribe Fighter
- 12 years ago
- 1502 views
2500 bucks against the Govt nominated fee of 500
This is the instance of Haryana Transport Authority, that took place few days earlier only. To ease out the hassles of my international trip, particularly driving from one city to another, after quiet a prolong search on the website of the US govt websites, I decided to get myself an International Driving Permit form India. One can easily hire a car in the US, permitting the state govt validates your country issued driving license, plus an IDP, valid for a month.
First issue of IDP: IDP can only be issued from the local authority who has issued you a driving license, forget it if you are staying elsewhere in India. Inspite of Govt boasting about the centralized system, Driving License's are still city RTO issued.
Second: Documentation: the website only lists some specified documents. But the time you contact the Local authority, they need a bundle of them. An affidavit is as necessary, as to state YES I DO EXIST. Plus a declaration/ application to the concerned officer. In addition to it, any of the RTO officer would not help you out with the filing. They don't even provide the requisite form for the IDP. If you need any help go to an agent sitting outside the court premises, and the officer will gladly tell you his name, get the file made from him, a charge of another 100-200 bucks. Medical Form- but you wont find any medical officer if you reach the RTO office, their timings being 0900-1230 hrs.
Third: Fee and the greased hands: The biggest issue being the fee. 500 are just the written/applicable charges, you need to grease the hands of the officials and many other to get your IDP on time (normally a few hours or max a day's procedure), and they openly ask for it. You ask the reason for it: "kya Sir, foreign ja rahe hain, itna paisa lagaya hai, yeh to kuch bhi nahin hai"'; "kya karein Sir, hamne nahin lena hai isme se kuch, ye to bade sahab logon ki fees hai".
Finally I had to change my plan of getting an IDP, a mere 500 Rs job, and shelling out 5 times the amount for it.