Lucknow, Aug. 6 -- The Uttar Pradesh transport department has proposed bringing e-challan payments under the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), aiming to make the process as seamless as paying electricity or water bills. According to the officials, the department has written to the Centre and the state government, seeking integration with BBPS, which will allow citizens to settle challans through widely used platforms like Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm. "As per official data, over 90% of the department's transactions are now digital, with Rs 84.50 crore collected via online driving licence payments and Rs 30.45 crore through e-challans between April and June this year. SBI POS machines have also been installed across transport offices to enable cashless payments via debit and credit cards, while UPI and internet banking options are being expanded," transport commissioner BN Singh said, highlighting this as one of the recent initiatives taken by the department. In another initiative, the department has submitted a proposal to adopt the International Driving Licence (IDL) booklet format as standardised by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH). "The move is aimed at replacing the existing A4 paper licences with a more secure and globally recognised format printed at the Nasik press. Alongside these citizen-focused reforms, the department claims progress on a wide range of fronts in its January-July 2025 review. These include the expansion of faceless services through 1.5 lakh Common Service Centres, introduction of WhatsApp chatbots for service-related queries, and strict enforcement drives targeting illegal e-rickshaws, helmet-less riders, and non-compliant school vehicles. "A digital platform to integrate ambulance services for accident victims is under development, while 70 new interceptor vehicles have been deployed to strengthen road safety. The department also reported a 10.39% increase in revenue in the April-June quarter, touching Rs 2,913 crore," Singh said. Additionally, institutional reforms such as promotion of over 470 transport constables, coordination with IIT Kharagpur for road safety analytics, deployment of ANPR cameras in NCR, and action against forged permits and fitness frauds have been undertaken to improve transparency and administrative efficiency....