Re-start issuance of driving licences in Punjab, pleads National Road Safety Council member

Chandigarh, Feb 7 (IANS) International road safety expert Kamal Soi, who is a member of the National Road Safety Council, on Friday expressed concern over the inconvenience being caused to people of Punjab as no driving licences (DLs) and vehicle registration certificates (RCs) are being issued.

There is hue and cry among the public in view of inaction on the part of the state government as all applications for issuance of DL and RCs are pending.

“To the best of my knowledge, the earlier vendor M/s Smart Chip Private Ltd, exited from the project in November 2024 after obtaining permission from the high court as the earlier rates quoted in 2019 had become unviable for then,” Soi told the media here.

“As per my understanding, the Transport Department has also submitted its affidavit in the High Court on November 20, 2024, that it will complete the process of handover of the project from the earlier vendor to the new vendor within one month. However, nothing has been done till date and there is a lot of hue and cry and outrage among the public,” he said.

Considering the state of affairs over non-implementation of DL and RCs going on in the state and the way the Transport Department is proceeding with the matter, it cannot be expected that the department can come up with the tender for their issuance.

Soi said to ensure that the public “is not unnecessarily inconvenienced, it is suggested that till the time a new vendor is selected for implementation of DL and RCs through a tender process, their issuance may be implemented through National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI), a 100 per cent government ownership company under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and has a credible history in the transportation sector for more than 25 years now”.

–IANS

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