Before this, license trails were held at Bhedifarm at Chinedanda of Pokhara-15 and hundreds who failed trail used to get a driving license with the cooperation of traffic and DoTM officials. [break]
Under the new arrangement, the CCTV footage of the trails can be viewed directly by chief of the Zonal Transportation Office as well the DoTM Director General. It is expected to end the malpractice of issuing licenses in exchange for a bribe.
Krishna Prasad Dawadi, the director general of DoTM, has arrived in Pokhara with technicians to install the cameras after public complaints about irregularities in license issuance.
"We decided to install CCTV cameras in Pokhara after getting complaints of irregularities," he said. "Now the process will be transparent and we hope the irregularities will stop."
Written tests and trails, held twice every month in Pokhara, are rife with financial irregularities owing to which over 90 percent of the applicants succeed in getting licenses.
Last week, Mekhlal Gurung, a driving instructor of Rai Motor Driving School located at Indrachowk, Pokhara-10, was arrested for appearing in the test and trial for another person. He appeared for the trial in place of Khimananda Khanal, for which he was paid Rs 500.
Currently, two CCTV cameras have been installed at the trial venue. Soon, another camera will be installed, according to acting chief of the zonal office Kali Bahadur Bhujel. He added that the cameras will capture the footages of the entire office premise to ensure transparency in trials.
The first trial under CCTV´s lens will be held next Thursday.
According to DG Dawadi, the footages will remain stored for 21 days, after which they will be automatically deleted. However, the zonal office has been directed to keep copies of the footages so that they can be referred to later to investigate suspected cases of irregularities, Dawadi said.
The trial venue in Kathmandu already has CCTV cameras, making it difficult for disqualified individuals to get driving licenses, leading them to get licenses from Pokhara.
The DoTM also has plans to install CCTV cameras in its offices in Lumbini, Narayani and Koshi zones soon.
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