The Department of Transport Management's (DoTM) bid to make it mandatory for all vehicle owners to affix embossed number plates in Bagmati and Gandaki provinces by mid-July has drawn flak, and a revision on its stance has been issued. Following widespread criticism due to the time limit, the department has said that its notice of Friday was applicable only to newer vehicles. In the notice issued on Friday, the DoTM had warned that it would impound all vehicles registered in the two provinces that did not have embossed number plates by mid-July. Vehicle owners also face a six-month jail term or a fine of Rs 15,000 under the Vehicles and Transport Management Act, 1993. The DoTM has now clarified that embossed plates were a must only for vehicles registered after November 17, 2021, if the vehicle ownership was being transferred after February 13, 2022 and for those seeking renewal of vehicle ownership certificate after May 15, 2022.

It's been six long years since the DoTM has tried to enforce the rule on embossed number plates, but to no avail. In May 2016, Decatur-Tiger IT, a joint venture of Tiger IT Bangladesh and Decatur, an American company, was awarded the contract to install embossed number plates in 2.5 million vehicles by September 2021. The deal is worth nearly $ 44 million.

The embossed number plate project has generated a lot of controversy, not the least being the use of the English language on it. Petitions were filed at the Supreme Court in February 2018 seeking to stop the use of the English letters and digits on the number plate, which the advocates said went against the constitutional provision. But the government won the case and the Devanagari script has been dropped, much to the chagrin of the critics who claim not many people in the rural areas would be able to pick up the English letters and digits in the event of an accident.

There is also concern that the technical chip on the number plates could be used to release all details about our vehicles to a foreign company, seriously hampering national security.

But the government is going ahead with the embossed number plates despite all the concerns raised and the fact that the company awarded for installing them had been sanctioned by the World Bank for fraud. The embossed number plates don't come cheap, either, with each of them costing anywhere from Rs 2,500 for a two-wheeler to Rs 3,200 for a car and Rs 3,600 for a heavy vehicle. People are now asking, is the embossed plate project really worth it? True, it might be a necessity for those vehicles that need to ply through other countries, as is being allowed under the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement. But why slap the rule on the millions of vehicles – two and four wheelers – in Nepal? It's apparent that the DoTM cannot back away from the project. But then, see to it that getting an embossed plate is not a hassle, where people have to queue up for the whole day, leaving behind all important work. With more than a million motorcycles and about half a million cars registered in Bagmati Province, one can well imagine the task the DoTM has at hand. The office would do well to open more transport management offices to deliver efficient and quick service.

Garbage problem

Despite reaching an agreement between the Ministry of Urban Development, Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) and the locals of Sisdole Landfill site area two day ago, the locals of the area have prevented trucks from disposing of waste collected in the Kathmandu Valley. The valley is littered with garbage that has been thrown along the roadsides and riverbanks, polluting the water bodies and inviting health hazards when the monsoon has already started.

It seems that the locals will not let the KMC dump garbage there until their demands are met.

Meanwhile, KMC Mayor Balendra Shah has said the refuse collectors would not collect the garbage unless it is segregated into bio-degradable and non-degradable bins. This is not a new idea. Everybody knows that it is easier to manage the garbage by separating it into various categories. Each and every household must follow the guidelines issued by the municipalities. The newly-elected officials at the KMC must immediately set up plants that can convert bio-degradable waste into bio-gas and compost fertiliser, both of which can greatly help reduce the quantity of garbage landing up at the landfill site while supplying fertiliser to the farmers.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 9, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.