Technical team formed by Transport Ministry to inspect trial centers submits report

KATHMANDU, June 3: Five trial centers set up for issuing driving licenses in the Kathmandu Valley have been closed for 15 days. The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Transport under the Bagmati Province Government is taking the initiative to reopen those trial centers. Around 5000 service seekers are facing inconvenience per day due to the closure of the trial centers.

A technical team formed by the ministry to study the trial centers submitted its report to the ministry on Friday. The Ministry of Transport had formed a technical team under the coordination of Mechanical Engineer Ram Sundar Kusi to evaluate whether the trial centers met the prescribed physical infrastructure standards. The team submitted its report to Balram Niraula, secretary of the ministry.

Niraula informed Republica that the technical team has studied the trial centers and submitted a report. "We are preparing to reopen the closed trial centers in a day or two," Niraula said

The five trial centers of the valley stopped trials for driver's license from May 17 for not meeting the required standards to operate such centers. 

Easy Way Trial Center in Radhe Radhe, Bhaktapur, Vehicle Academy and Research Center Pvt Ltd in Gurjudhara, Nepal Driving and Reconditioning Center Pvt Ltd in Gokarneshwar, and Suzuki Driving School Pvt Ltd in Ekantakuna have halted their services as per the directive of the National Vigilance Center (NVC).

As the trial centers have been closed, the candidates who have cleared the written exam and are waiting for the practical exam are facing trouble. On May 17, about two thousand examinees were preparing to take the practical test at those five trial centers in the valley. But after the Valley Traffic Office did not send its representative to take the practical exam, the trial centers suddenly stopped the practical exam.

The NVC has directed the trial centers which are operating against the prescribed standards to operate properly as per the prescribed norms or to be shut down. The NVC has concluded that some of the trial centers operating in the valley have deliberately failed the examinees without taking the practical test as per the prescribed standards. The NVC formed a team mid-March and conducted a detailed study and monitoring of the trial centers being operated in the valley.

The team members went to the trial centers for the study. According to the report prepared by the NVC, the trial centers of the valley conducted practical exams against the guidelines. According to the report, those trial centers did not conduct the test according to the standards set by the Operational Guidelines for Driving Test Centers of 2074 BS.

The NVC has written a letter and instructed the provincial transport ministry to make arrangements so that the drivers can use their own vehicles during the trial period.

Driving center being operated by risking a bridge

The NVC has found that the Easy Way Driving Training Center has been operating the trial center under the Araniko Highway on the Hanumante River Bridge in Bhaktapur, putting the bridge at risk. To study this matter, the NVC formed a team of engineers in mid-April.

The team has submitted a report to the NVC. It has been mentioned in the report that the trial center has encroached on public land by changing the flow of the Hanumante river. The said report has been submitted to the secretary of the NVC Ram Aadhar Sah.

The report mentions that the driving center has encroached to the extent that it covers a part of the Hanumante River bridge. There is public land on the left side of the bridge. The report from the NVC states that the Easy Way Driving Training Centre has encroached on this land and has been using it as a trial center.

The NVC has concluded that the bridge is at risk due to the construction that altered the flow of the Hanumante River. The report indicates that this has had a serious impact on the eastern bank of the bridge as well as the supporting wall of the bridge. Technical staff from the NVC also studied other areas along the Araniko Highway. However, they concluded that the risk has increased particularly to the Hanumante River bridge.