Smart Driving Licenses Backlog Cleared

Kathmandu. The backlog of approximately 29 lakh smart driving licenses, accumulated for 4 years at the Department of Transport Management, has finally been printed. The Security Printing Center has already printed more than 25 lakh 92 thousand licenses in line with the agreement to complete printing by the end of Asar. However, about 3 lakh licenses with less than one year validity will not be printed immediately. There were two phases of agreement between the Department of Transport Management and the Security Printing Center for license printing. According to the first agreement, 12 lakh vehicle licenses had to be printed by 2083 Baishakh 12, which has been 100% completed. Similarly, the second agreement stipulated that an additional 17 lakh licenses should be printed by the end of Asar 2083. As per that agreement, the department had provided data for a total of 29 lakh licenses to the center. According to the center, printing of 25 lakh 92 thousand 417 out of the details sent by the department has been completed. The remaining 3 lakh 7 thousand 583 licenses will not be printed immediately as their validity is less than one year. According to Keshav Khatiwada, Director at the Department of Transport Management, these licenses with less than one year validity will be printed only after the service recipients renew them. In a conversation with RatoPati, Director Khatiwada said, 'We have already provided the exact data of 29 lakh licenses to the center as per the agreement. Among those pending for a long time, about 3 lakh licenses with less than one year validity will not be printed. The printed licenses will be brought to the department by this evening or tomorrow.' Gopalraj Timilsina, Deputy Secretary at the Security Printing Center, also stated that the printing of the backlog has been completed and the final cutting work is underway. 'The backlog is completely finished. Out of 29 lakhs, the department gave us data for only about 26 lakhs, all of which have been printed and are going for cutting,' he said. According to him, even though the old backlog is finished, the printing of new and renewed vehicle licenses, which comes daily at 3 to 4 thousand, is ongoing and will continue.

• How did the 29 lakh backlog accumulate?

The backlog of 29 lakh licenses was due to service recipients who passed the trial in the last 4 years but did not receive smart cards. Initially, printing was slow due to machine capacity and card shortage, and last year it came to a complete halt. Moreover, during the 'GenZ' protest in Bhadra 2082, the agitators set fire to the Department of Transport Management office, causing significant damage to the department's license printing machine. With the machine itself burnt, the department was unable to print licenses, making the distribution of licenses uncertain. Following this, the interim government decided to hand over the entire responsibility of license printing to the Security Printing Center. Although a theoretical agreement was made between the Department of Transport Management and the Security Printing Center in Jestha 2082 for printing driving licenses, the work could not proceed. After the machine was damaged during the GenZ protest, the center officially started printing licenses on 2082 Kartik 21 by re-contracting under compulsion. With the center completing the printing of millions of backlogs in a short period, service recipients waiting for smart licenses will get great relief. Furthermore, vehicle licenses will now be printed continuously from the center. The Security Printing Act gives the printing center the exclusive right to print government and sensitive documents. Accordingly, the center will be printing them.