Nearly 2.7 million service recipients who have passed the exam to obtain and renew a new one have not been able to get a driving license even after years. Although the license issuance service is available through 42 transport management offices across the country, service recipients since 2022 are walking around carrying a receipt for which they have paid the revenue. When they walk around carrying only a receipt, they have even been questioned by the traffic police. 

All transport management offices are under the provincial government. Only the Transport Management Department is under the federal government. Since the license printing facility is not under the Transport Management Office and the provincial ministry so far, the department has been coordinating. Since the printing of licenses since 2022 has been stopped, the number of licenses remaining to be distributed has reached about 2.7 million.

During the Gen-G uprising, the department's building at Min Bhavan was damaged by fire on 24 Bhadra, resulting in a long shutdown of the service. Two months later, from 23 Kartik, the department and the two transport management offices in the valley were started from Sanobharyang in Kathmandu and Radheradhe in Bhaktapur. According to the department, about 22,000 licenses that had already been printed were burned in the fire, and the issue has not been resolved. 

Keshav Khatiwada, Director of the Department of Transport Management, said that currently, 1.2 million licenses are being printed and distributed through the Security Printing Center in the first phase. For this, an agreement was signed between the Department of Transport Management and the Security Printing Center on 13 Kartik. ‘The printing of emergency licenses started through the center from 16 Kartik,’ said Director Khatiwada, ‘So far, 30,000 have been printed.’ 

He said that about 7,000 license recipients have not come to collect them. ‘There are many problems of filling out forms saying it is an emergency, going abroad but not coming to collect them after they are printed,’ he said, ‘Already, about 22,000 licenses were printed and kept, but when they were not collected, they were destroyed in the fire when they were kept in the department.’ He said that the recipients should not be forced to pay revenue again in the case of burned licenses and that the relevant provincial ministry should decide on this. 

He said that so far, out of the seven provinces, only Koshi Province has decided on this. Department officials say that if other provinces decide on time, service recipients will not be confused. ‘Only cards that have been burnt in a fire should be made free of charge, the card was burnt while it was in the department,’ he said, ‘It should be written in the system that it was burnt in a fire, and later, when it is renewed, the update of renewal will come only after paying the revenue.’ He suggested that those who do not have cards should be made free of charge. The department has already informed the concerned provinces about this. If this is done, he said, it will provide relief to the service recipients and they will not have to pay the fee twice.

He said that so far, out of the seven provinces, only Koshi Province has decided on this. If other provinces decide on time, service recipients will not be confused. Currently, some service recipients are coming to the department every day to understand this. The department is arranging for them to go to the concerned transport management office to understand this further. When can service recipients easily get the license? Director Khatiwada says, "The Security Printing Center has to print 1.2 million licenses, but we have already provided 200,000 data some time ago, and we are preparing to provide another 400,000," he said. "We have received information that 200,000 will be printed by Thursday, and then we will provide 400,000 for printing." He said that the printing process will be moved forward by providing an additional 600,000 data immediately.

The daily demand for 'emergency' license printing is 250 to 300. 250 to 3,000 applications are being submitted from across the country for renewal and new ones. "There was one printer in the department, that too was burnt in the Gen-G movement. To issue licenses to service recipients quickly, each of the 42 transport management offices should be provided with a printing machine," he said. "If this is not possible, one machine should be provided to each of the seven provincial ministries. If a printer cannot be provided to each province, the Security Printing Center should do the printing work."

He said that although the department is not responsible for printing and distributing the cards, it is coordinating with them. According to the department, the printing is being done by giving priority to Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces. Currently, the data of the Transport Management Office under the hilly districts of Koshi Province is being extracted and sent for printing. 

Devraj Dhungana, Executive Director of the Security Printing Center, said that the work of printing 25,000 licenses daily has been going on since Sunday. ‘As per the agreement, we are preparing to print and hand over 1.2 million licenses on time,’ he said, ‘We have a period until April 12 for that.’ According to him, although the agreement was initially to print 500 cards daily, it took four months to gather the resources, he said. 

Not getting a license that directly concerns the service recipient on time is the height of chaos, says Ashish Gajurel, a transport infrastructure expert and an elected MP from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). ‘Preparations are being made to print licenses by increasing the capacity, the capacity of the machine we have can print up to 40,000 licenses daily,’ he said, ‘Initially, there was some delay in obtaining the necessary materials for printing, but now there is no problem, so we print the licenses as per the agreement and distribute them on time.’ 

The printing press is in Panauti, Kavre. He says that the center is ready to print and distribute old-date licenses as well. ‘We are preparing for this, while the printing is going on, we are preparing to print the remaining licenses by mid-Asad, by reaching an agreement with the Department of Transport Management, so that no service recipient has to carry a receipt for the revenue paid.’ He says that preparations are being made to print and distribute so that no old-date licenses remain in stock. ‘Discussions are being held with the Department of Transport Management regarding this, but it has not been finalized,’ he said, ‘We are preparing to reach an agreement soon.’