Technical glitch leads to issues with ‘smart license’

Kathmandu / March 4: Even though the authorities concerned have made attempts to make the distribution of ‘smart’ driving licenses technology-friendly, service seekers are forced to face problems due to technological error.

Some of the information in the license does not match with the records maintained by the Transport Management Office. The smart license service is not fully technology-friendly, and there are problems even in the limited services that are currently available.

Rajkumar Kapali, the head of the Transport Management Office, Ekantakuna, said that there are various problems with the licenses issued more than ten years ago.

“We are facing problems especially with the old licenses. It may have happened because of the data corruption in the server,” he said.

Kapali said that people have renewed their licenses but the information is not updated.

“If there is load shedding while entering data while renewing the license, the data is not updated in the system. In this case, the customer’s money is deducted and the license is also not renewed,” he said.

Kapali said that preparations are being made to troubleshoot the problems in license renewal in coordination with the Department of Transport Management (DoTM).

The Transport Management Office, which was earlier under the federal government, has now been transferred under the provincial government with the promulgation of the new constitution. System management and printing of the license is being done by the department and other subordinate offices.

Kapali said that because the DoTM is under the federal government and the Transport Management Office is under the provincial government, there is a lack of coordination resulting in problems in printing the license.

“When there is a problem with the service seekers while delivering services, the department tells them to go to the province and the provincial office tells them to visit the department,” said Kapali.

According to the Transport Management Office, 80 percent of the problem related to the old files has been resolved. Officials say that they are planning to resolve the remaining problems by mid-June 2023.

According to Kapali, one of the reasons for all these problems might be errors in data entry of old files in the new system. The Transport Management Office is working with the concept of making government works paperless as per the decision taken by the government.

Stating that the ministry has been ordered to implement a paperless system within three months, he said that around 700,000 data are still left to be digitally entered from the files.