Motor vehicle registration data: ET&NCD to launch new SMS service soon

SMS code that was launched in 2014, became discontinued by the end of the same year.

LAHORE: A previous SMS code which provides motor vehicle registration data is still up and running, but is only providing out-of-date information. In response, the Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department (ET&NCD) is gearing up to launch yet another short code that will provide current data, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The then ET&NCD Director General Naseem Sadiq launched SMS code 9966 which was being managed by the Pakistan Revenue Automation Limted (PRAL). However, it was discontinued by the end of 2014; the same year of its launch.

PRAL also stopped updating data of new purchased vehicles, token taxes, issuances of number plates and transfers. The helpline, despite being scrapped, was still providing data that was misleading not only to the motor vehicle owners, but also the police. The data has only been updated last updated till late 2014, but did not provide any subsequent updates.

Resultantly, any transaction made after 2015 was not shown in the reply text.

This confused police in determining the ownership, token tax and number plate records. According to the ET&NCD, several letters have been written to PRAL to discontinue the SMS service to end the confusion. The department received complaints from motor vehicle users who had to face massive inconvenience due to the misleading data.



In a recent event, a vehicle user named Ahmad Khan was stopped on Main Boulevard for driving his vehicle with none specimen approved number plate by traffic wardens near the Liberty u-turn. “A traffic warden texted at 9966 to verify my documents and got all the information incorrect.”

He said that he had to request his way out of the situation that almost took him to the police station. For a moment he also got confused with the details provided via SMS, he said, adding that SMS did not show any details of transfer of vehicle to his name and no details of freshly paid tokens. Later, he proved his innocence via excises website, he said, adding that if a SMS code has been discarded, the service should have been suspended. Activating this service would only mislead police, he said.

An official of ET&NCD said they had issued SIMs to traffic wardens instead of getting details of registrations of any vehicle. However, some traffic wardens speaking on the condition of anonymity said that they did not use those SIMs at all.

One of the wardens who was on duty on Canal Road said that the app service provided with that SIM was very slow. Even people did not want to wait for that long, he added.

Another warden working on Ferozpur Road said SIM requires an expensive android phones that haven’t been provided to them. They would not discard their own numbers active with their phones for this SIMs, he added.

According to Additional Director General Masudul Haq, the department has purchased a short code 8785 for the upcoming SMS service and would launch this short SMS code shortly. He added that they have sent several letters to the PRAL to discontinue the aforesaid SMS code. All departments concerned have been informed of the discontinuation as well.

In just past five years, the department has already experimented with 4 SMS short code, wasting countless hours on coordinating with developers and spending millions for advertising the number. The department discontinued its SMS service 8070 managed by the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) in 2013 due to design faults, according to the then official concerned.

In early 2014, another SMS service 9966 was launched with help of the PRAL that was discontinued within five months of its launch. Another SMS service 9989 was launched by Awami Service Technology (managed by former PRAL employees) and was later discarded for being too expensive. By October 2014, the department vowed to launch another SMS code 8786 again with the help of PITB.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2017.