Around 7.5 lakh smart driving licence cards are now pending to be printed causing sufferings to the people.
After the contract period with the earlier contractor company expired in July this year, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority is yet to start a fresh tender procedure to appoint a new company.
Currently, the authority is issuing smart driving licence cards on a priority basis.
The authority is scheduled to issue a public notification today in newspapers to remind all once again the e-driving licences can be used as the smart driving licence cards.
Earlier the authority issued two similar circulars as pending smart driving licence cards was not a new crisis.
Different sections of people, including students, are facing difficulties to process their visa procedures and getting jobs due to the low availability of smart driving licence cards.
The interim government adviser to the road transport and bridges ministry, Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, on January 11 this year at a press briefing said that the issuance and renewal procedures for driving licences and fitness certificates for vehicles would be easier from that time.
He also told reporters that delivery of 4.5 lakh smart driving licence cards remained pending at the time, which would be issued within March.
The number of the pending licence cards, however, increased by three more lakh now.
Earlier, the road transport authority signed an agreement on July 29, 2020 with the Madras Security Printers Pvt Ltd, a Chennai-based Indian company, to purchase and then print smart driving licence cards in next five years.
But the company delayed the purchasing and printing procedures, which led to the backlog in the procedure, said a BRTA insider.
Against this backdrop, the then parliamentary standing committee on the road transport and bridges ministry on September 26, 2022 expressed resentment over the delay in and the long process of printing and distributing smart driving licence cards and recommended arranging a quicker distribution.
The contract period with the Madras firm ended on July 28 this year while no new company has been appointed for the job till Sunday.
According to BRTA officials, a tender will be called at first for appointing a new contractor company.
Meanwhile after the previous contract period, driving licence tests were聽 suspended for two days, said a senior official at the BRTA engineering department.
The tests resumed after two days, he said, adding that they were now issuing the smart licence cards on a priority basis, especially to facilitate students, expatriates and job seekers.
Some students, seeking admissions in the foreign universities, were seen standing in front of the聽 BRTA chair Abu Momtaz Saad Uddin Ahmed鈥檚 room on July 29.
They were waiting for smart driving licence cards to complete their visa procedure.
Drivers of different vehicles are also facing difficulties due to the card crisis.
Many of them made a common complaint that the police filed cases against them if they did not show the cards.
The transport authority on August 10, 2023 issued a circular saying that the authority was providing the e-driving licences which could be showed on smart phones as the driving licences.
The e-driving licences can be verified by the QR code, it added.
On March 24, 2024, the authority amended the previous circular by adding that the e-driving licences and the driving licence cards would be accepted equally.
On Sunday, at an inter-ministerial meeting held at the Bidyut Bhaban in the capital, Road Transport and Highways Division senior secretary Md Ehsanul Hoque urged the Dhaka Metropolitan Police additional commissioner for traffic Md Sarwar for not filing cases against the drivers holding e-driving licences.
BRTA chair Abu Momtaz Saad Uddin Ahmed told 抖阴精品 on the day that they were going to issue another public notification today on newspapers to remind the people that the e-driving licences and the driving licence cards would be used as same.
Replying to a question, he said that they would call an open tender for appointing a new contractor company to purchase and print the smart driving licence cards by the next week.
