Kathmandu, July 17 Implementation of embossed number plate system for automobiles in the country has hit a speed-breaker as the file related to it has been stalled in the Cabinet since over a month. With the target to start substituting manual number plates in vehicles with the digital or embossed number plates from mid-June, the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) had sent a draft of the directive on ‘embossed number plate implementation’ to the Cabinet in the first week of June for endorsement. However, the directive is yet to get Cabinet’s nod, which has affected the timely implementation of the new system. “We have already acquired the essential equipment and are basically on standby. As soon as the Cabinet gives us a ‘go-ahead’, we will begin to fit embossed number plates on vehicles,” said DoTM Director General Roop Narayan Bhattarai. He said the endorsement process of the directive ‘could have been delayed due to procedural hurdles’. As per him, DoTM will publish a notice in the Nepal Gazette after getting Cabinet’s approval and will start the substitution process of vehicle number plates within 15 days of publishing the notice. “In the first phase, we will implement embossed number plate system in the Kathmandu Valley as a pilot project and take it nationwide gradually,” Bhattarai added. DoTM has said that vehicle owners can fit embossed number plates at the Ekantakuna-based Transport Management Office after paying certain charges. Bhattarai informed that two-wheeler riders can fit the embossed number plate by paying Rs 2,500 while four-wheeler vehicle owners would have to pay Rs 3,600 for the same. The chip-fitted embossed number plates are expected to help the government keep records of all vehicles plying the domestic roads. Implementation of embossed number plate system in automobiles is also believed to facilitate the government in controlling vehicle thefts, crimes or any other type of offence. Moreover, DoTM officials have claimed that implementation of this system will also control accidents as government will be able to easily detect and monitor activity of every vehicle plying the roads as every embossed number plate would be directly connected to the server of DoTM. Meanwhile, DoTM is also planning to install ‘sensor gates’ along major routes and highways of the country to keep an eye on vehicles with the help of embossed number plate.