Kathmandu, July 16

As per Department of Transport Management (DoTM)’s plan to distribute the smart driving licence through all its zonal offices, it has started issuing forms for the said purpose from Sagarmatha, Janakpur, Rapti, Bheri, Seti, Karnali and Mahakali zonal offices from today. Till date the smart driving licences had not been issued in the aforementioned zones.

Tok Raj Pandey, spokesperson for DoTM, has confirmed that all new applicants who have applied for new driving licences will get smart driving licences instead of the paper licence that is prevalent now. “Initially, we distributed smart driving licences only in Kathmandu Valley and through six other zonal offices but from today we have expanded it across the country.”

According to officials at DoTM, seven out of the 14 zonal offices have already started to distribute smart driving licences. Along with Bagmati zonal office, offices at Lumbini, Mechi, Koshi, Narayani, Dhaulagiri and Gandaki have already begun to issue smart licences.

DoTM, will now start distributing smart driving licences from Sagarmatha, Janakpur, Rapti, Bheri, Seti, Karnali and Mahakali zonal offices. The DoTM had started to issue smart driving licences from Bagmati since December 6, 2015.

According to Pandey, all the zonal offices will now start issuing smart driving licences to both people who have applied for a new licence and also to those who are renewing their licences. DoTM plans to start distributing the smart licences through all the remaining zonal offices by August 15.

Though the DoTM says that it has started the process to distribute smart licences through all its zonal offices it has not been able to fully manage all the technical aspects. “Even the basic technical facilities cannot be found in all the offices,” an official at DoTM said on condition of anonymity.

In fact, the DoTM has not been able to distribute smart driving licences to people on time even in the Valley.