Pune: Getting vehicle Registration Certificate (RC) smart cards from Regional Transport Office (RTO), Pune, or the Postal Department is not an easy task now-a-days.

Instances have come to light wherein smart cards sent by RTO through post are not reaching the owner in time. To prevent the owners from trouble in the meantime, the RTO will now send an RC smart card bar-code number via a text message to the applicant’s mobile.

Earlier, an applicant had to go from pillar to post for his delayed RC smart card or book. Sakal Times had reported on January 6 that ‘Over 1 lakh RC books are pending with Pimpri RTO’. An RTO official said, “The 16 digit number will also be displayed on the smart card. Whenever the smart card is sent to a vehicle owner, a text message will also be sent on his registered mobile number. If a person does not receive an RC smart card by post, he can track it using this number.”

Regional Transport Officer of Pune RTO BI Ajri said, “A decision has been taken to send the bar-code number to the vehicle owners via SMS and there have been positive discussions with NIC. The SMS delivery mechanism has been created. The service will start soon, there is some technical issue, and we are in talks with the NIC.”