26-year-old Raj Shrestha of Kirtipur is a holder of 'B' class disability ID card. He used to drive a four-wheeled scooter (made by adding two wheels to the left and right of a two-wheeled scooter) working at Nepal Oil Corporation in Teku. After having an accident while driving a scooter, he learned to drive a friend's car by thinking of driving a safer vehicle. I bought an electric car three months ago when I had the strength to drive on the road.

After buying the car, he filled an online form for a driver's license at the Transport Management Office in Boolvrang. He went to the same transport office to give biometric details. The transport staff told Raj that he could not get a health certificate as his legs did not work properly (physical disability) and that he would not be able to pass the test as he had to drive the vehicle of the trial center (a car driven by a male). "We (disabled) can drive, we can't even get a license," he said Section 45 of the Act, 2049 states that no one can drive a vehicle without obtaining a driver's license. If found driving without a driver's license, the traffic police assigned for traffic management will impose a fine of two thousand rupees. Although the provision of giving driver's license to persons with disabilities is mentioned in the Vehicle and Transport Management Act of three decades ago, it is not clear . According to the law, visually impaired and red-blind people who cannot distinguish between red, green, and yellow traffic colors cannot get a driver's license. In the case of people who have lost their hearing due to the inability to hear simple sound signals, sounds, after testing their driving ability, there is a provision in the law to issue a driver's license so that they can only drive on roads that meet the prescribed standards. Likewise, in the case of people with weak limbs (physical disabilities), they get a driver's license to drive a specially made vehicle. The Act does not clearly state what standard roads should be for people with hearing loss and what kind of vehicles should be specially made for physical disabilities . Therefore, it is difficult for a person with disabilities like Raj to get a driver's license. Paiha also has to face a complicated process.

Krishna Gahatraj, who has worked for more than a decade in the national and international development sectors, applied for a car driver's license at the Transport Management Office at Ekantakuna, Lalitpur. However, the transport office returned that there is no provision for driver's permit. Gahatraj says, 'Government should have given a driver's license for those who can buy and drive a vehicle!' As he is responsible for taking care of a family of four, including a 90-year-old father, wife and a son, he started driving a three-wheeler despite recovering from the accident injuries. He has been driving a car for four years and supporting the household expenses. He has taken the auto from Hetaunda to Chitwan, Dhading, Bara, Nawalparasi on the basis of the driver's license he obtained while driving the truck. "But if there is an accident or if others cause damage, there is a fear of the risk, if you go to the transport department to make a license, you will not be able to get it, instead the previous one will be taken away," he said.

It's not that the transport offices don't issue driver's license . 61-year-old Ganga Bahadur Khadka from Pokhara, who has a spinal cord injury, obtained a driver's license after running several times at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development of Gandaki Province. "It took almost a year and a half from the time I applied until I was able to take the driver's license test," he said. Khadka has been driving a car for four years. He has been making it disabled-friendly by adding 'hand kits' to his car. According to the Vehicle and Transport Act, the vehicle owner can change the color, number of seats, shape, engine or chassis with the approval of the Transport Office based on the same requirements as Khadka.

Due to legal ambiguity, transport offices often issue driver's licenses voluntarily. When people working in the field of disability form a group or are facilitated by organizations working in that field, the transport office sometimes provides driver's license. "This access is not for everyone, because you have a disability, you have to go to the transport office and get a driver's license!" break Anita Ghimire, the vice president of the National Disabled Federation of Nepal, said that although there is a mention in the current Vehicle and Transport Management Act about giving driver's license to disabled people who use four-wheeled scooters, there are complaints that it is difficult to get them. "There are complications such as not giving a trial, even giving a trial by cheating," she said. The outgoing president of the National Physically Handicapped Association in Nepal, Kiran Shilpkar, says that the government should ensure legal clarity about disability-friendly transport services.

The Supreme Court on 29th March 2069 ordered the distribution of driver's license by upgrading and improving the roads and placing traffic signs and amending the Vehicle and Traffic Management Act. The government had made an action plan and asked to amend the law and improve the road infrastructure within one year. But till now the work has not been done according to the order. The Department of Roads has written to the Federation of the Deaf and informed that no road has been designated as a vehicle for deaf people on the roads built across the country. However, the transport office has been refusing to give driver's license to deaf people because they cannot hear the sound and there is a risk of accidents.

Krishna Gahatraj, who is also a human rights activist, also argues that the government is violating human rights by not allowing people with disabilities to drive. Similarly, according to Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) approved by Nepal, the government must provide transportation facilities and access to the disabled to reach all places like others.

Deputy Secretary of Disability Rights Promotion Branch in the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens Jamuna Mishra said that initiatives are being taken with the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport for disability-friendly road infrastructure and driver's license. "Last year, the Minister and Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Physical Infrastructure had a discussion about this," she said Uddhav Prasad Rizal, director general of the transport management department at Kathmandu Meen Bhavan of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, said that he will address the issue by putting clear provisions in the 'Vehicle and Transport Management Act 2049' which is under revision. "Because it is not clear in the current law, it is difficult for them (with disabilities) to get a driver's license, we are amending the law," said Rizal, "we are addressing it so that it is clear, according to which the transport office of the province that distributes the driver's license implements 

According to the Act on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2074, disability has been classified into 10 parts based on problems or difficulties in physical organs or systems. According to the National Census, 2078, the population with disabilities in the country is 647,744. This is 2.2 percent of the country's total population . 37.1 percent of the population of persons with disabilities are physically disabled.

What is the arrangement abroad?

Hong Kong's Special Government Administrative Region Department of Transportation has implemented the "Transportation for All" feature. There is no restriction on getting driver's license for people with disabilities, there are procedural facilities for this . According to the Road Transport (Driver's Permit) Rules of 1997, there is a government provision to get a driver's license for people with disabilities. Allowance is given by accounting for how much the vehicle can be driven by the disabled. For this, the customer can make an appointment by contacting the transport department. Based on the

appointment, the driver service branch does the accounting, evaluation . There is a special health test. Community rehabilitation services are provided at authorized hospitals as needed. From a health point of view, there is a further examination of how capable the driver is. It is checked whether it is necessary to change the vehicle due to disability. After these accounts, only permitted vehicles are allowed to learn to drive . After learning, the driver's license is tested. If passed, permission is given for the trial period, only after that a full driver's license is given.

If a permit has been given on the condition of wearing appropriate glasses or other corrective lenses, hearing aids, then the vehicle must be driven accordingly . Hong Kong also has audio traffic signals for pedestrians with visual disabilities to facilitate zebra crossing. Even in India, there is no legal barrier to provide a driver's license to a person with disabilities . However, according to the policy of the Government of India, the National Deaf Federation of India and others filed a case in the Delhi High Court regarding the issue of not giving driver's license to people who have lost their hearing. In 2011, the Delhi High Court ordered that a person who can hear using hearing aids should not be denied the right to obtain a driver's license. Hindustan Times mentioned that this was a historic decision in favor of the hearing impaired in India.