KATHMANDU, Dec 13: It has come to light that the smart driving license issued by the Bagmati Transport Management Office has three major errors.
Madras Security Printers Pvt Ltd that was banned by India for leaking confidential information has been printing smart licenses in Nepal.
The smart driving license project is a part of Information and Communication Technology Development Project that the government is implementing with grant assistance of US$ 25 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The company has been assigned to print 160,000 smart licenses. The smart cards are printed in Kathmandu through eight printers provided by the printing company.
“Yes, there are errors. We have informed the issue to Department of Transport
Management,” said Chief of Bagmati Transport Management Office, Tej Narayan Yadav, “Halting license distribution will invite more problems.”
These are the errors.
All licenses are nonprofessional!
All the licenses issued by the office are of nonprofessional category. Internationally, driving licenses are distributed under mainly two categories, professional and nonprofessional. Those driving public transports get professional licenses, while those driving private vehicles get nonprofessional licenses. All the smart licenses distributed till now are of nonprofessional category. (See the image above)
Category lacks explanation
The smart driving licenses have mentioned the category, but they fail to explain the category. The backsides of the licenses are empty. Earlier, paper-based licenses had explained the category. (See the image above.)
Driving license test results and smart card status now through...
No mention of issuing authority
It is a worldwide trend that the name of the issuing authority is mentioned in any types of identification cards. This applies to Nepal as well. The smart license doesn’t mention the issuing office.
Those holding nonprofessional driving licenses in Nepal won’t be allowed to work as a professional driver in foreign land.
Photo/video: Prabin Koirala
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