KATHMANDU, June 6: The Department of Transport Management has issued a notice to affix embossed number plates to all vehicles of Bagmati Province within the next one and a half months. According to reports, the number of vehicles registered in the province until mid-November of 2021 alone is more than 1.7 million. 

The Department has given the task of affixing embossed number plates to vehicles to only two of its offices in the Kathmandu Valley. Since the Department was not able to complete the work of providing and renewing driver’s licenses within the scheduled time, it is highly unlikely that it would be able to provide the embossed number plates within the said time. 

Problems are likely to occur within this undertaking as only two offices have been tasked to recommend the numbers on the number plates. The department has directed the Transport Management Office in Ekantakuna — which deals with matters related to four-wheelers — and the Transport Management Office in Gurjudhara — which deals with two-wheelers — to affix the embossed number plates on vehicles.

Considering the manpower and other resources of these two transport management offices, it seems improbable that the Department would be able to affix embossed number plates to more than 1.7 million vehicles in a month and a half. Madan Pokharel, head of the Transport Management Office in Ekantakuna, said his office would not affix embossed number plates but only recommend the numbers. “Our office will only recommend the numbers for the plates. The construction of the number plates and to affix them are the jobs of the contractor companies,” says Pokharel. 

Pokharel says he has engaged only one staff member to recommend the numbers on the plates. “We will be able to do the task given to us by the Department only if the provincial government facilitates us with the required manpower and other physical infrastructures. In failing to provide us with the required facilities, we would only do as much as what we can,” he says. According to the office, not many vehicles have come to affix embossed number plates as of late. The number of service recipients may increase after the department’s announcement. 

Ishwari Dutta Paneru, a spokesperson for the Department of Transport Management, asserted that there would be no problem in affixing the number plates as number plates have been produced in excess. Paneru says, “There is a fear that the policy brought by the government will fail if the private owners do not affix the number plates.” He adds, “Now that the technicians and all the necessary infrastructures have been made available, there should not be much problem in affixing the number plates.”

Director General of the Department, Namaraj Ghimire says that the formulation of a timetable would be requested based on ‘lots’ of vehicles after discussing with the transportation management offices. He says, “Action will be taken as per the law against those who do not affix embossed number plates to their vehicles even after allocation of the ‘lots’.”

He said that the Department is preparing to publish the work schedule in coordination with the transport management offices. There are no clear provisions regarding how to monitor and take necessary actions if the department is not able to affix the embossed number plates to all vehicles within the stipulated time. 

 
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