ITP to resume issuance of driving licence in a week

The department will utilise funds allocated to it for road safety education.

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) will resume issuance of driving licences within a week. The announcement was made by Inspector General of Police (IG) Wajid Khan Durrani at the ITP office on Wednesday.

A week earlier, the traffic police suspended the facility for an unspecified period due to financial constraints. Sources said the service was suspended because the ministry of finance failed to provide ITP the required budged, which is 50 per cent of the amount collected by ITP through traffic violations.

Of the remaining 50 per cent, half is distributed among all ITP officials, while the remaining half is used to promote road safety education.

Although the finance ministry has still not release the required budged to the ITP, it has given a “go-ahead” to use Rs19 million out of the Rs50 million funds allocated to it for road safety education.

After giving fresh tenders and fulfilling a few other formalities, the ITP will resume issuance of licences to the public “within a week or 10 days at most,” according to the IG. The fee charged for the licence will remain unchanged, and so will the procedures and facilities to licence-seekers, he added.

However, sources said that other self-initiated programs like hi-tech fitness gym for police officials, driving school, media-centre and an FM radio centre will be affected.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2011.