Gandhinagar: More than 2.63 lakh applicants have been issued learner’s licenses at Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in just over ten months since select ITIs were authorized to issue the licenses, official data shows.

For the decentralization and the transparency, this initiative was indicated by Honorable CM Vijay Rupani after which state government had in October last year authorized 221 ITIs to conduct online tests for learner’s license and to issue the licenses. The decision was aimed at making the process of obtaining a license convenient for applicants and to ease the rush of applicants at Road Transport Offices (RTOs).

Since then, more than 5.24 lakh applicants have applied for getting learner’s licenses at ITIs, statistics released by the Directorate of Employment and Training show.

“The system of issuing learner’s license at ITIs has been very well received. This is mainly because applicants are finding it more convenient to go to ITIs for licenses instead of RTOs, which generally have a greater rush,” said Vipul Mittra, additional chief Secretary, Labour, and Employment department.

Mittra said that of the 5.24 lakh applicants, 2.63 lakh applicants were issued the learner’s license.

Of the remaining 2.61 lakh applicants, 1.17 lakh failed the test, while 1.44 lakh applications were rejected on account of missing documents, pending fees, errors during the online test, and other reasons.

ITIs started accepting the application for learning license from 4th of June 2020 in Unlock 1 following the standard COVID -19 protocols. Total applications received from 4th June till 5th September is 2.28 lakhs out of which 1.19 lakhs licenses were issued.

Separately, on September 4, the Labour and Employment department authorized 19 more government-run ITIs in Ahmedabad, Anand, Amreli, Dahod, Surendranagar, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, and other places to issue learner’s licenses. Out of these 5 it is namely Thaltej, Maninagar- Vastral, Gorva, each from Bhavnagar and Rajkot City are only reserved for female applicants. These ITIs will undertake the learner’s license-related activity from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm on a daily basis.

“This will allow the ITIs to cater to a larger number of applicants,” said Mittra.