Citizens’ woes: Motorists bear the brunt of excise department’s failings

Vehicle owners are paying hefty fines after authority fails to issue number plates or smart cards

FAISALABAD: In a bid to tighten security and monitor thefts, the Punjab Department of Excise and Taxation, together with the help of traffic police, has made it mandatory for citizens to stop the use of unauthorised number plates, violation of which will lead to hefty fines in the form of challans.

To avoid fines, many people rushed to submit their applications for registered number plates. Despite the imposition of strict rules, however, the citizens of Faisalabad have been deprived of number plates for their cars and motorcycles for the past seven months. What’s more, no vehicle smart cards have been issued since April this year either.

Per sources, more than 10,000 motorcycles are being added to the Faisalabad district each month and for that reason, around 70,000 applications have been submitted to the excise department, all of which are still waiting to be processed. Likewise, number plates for four-wheeled cars have not been issued either.

The undue delay on part of the excise department has led to growing frustration among the masses, who had to pay a fee at the time of submitting their applications. The number plate fee for a single car is Rs1,200, while it is Rs750 for a motorcycle.

According to an official at the excise department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, hordes of motorists visit the excise department every day to inquire about their number plates, but they have to return empty-handed.

A similar situation prevails in terms of vehicle smart cards. Speaking to The Express Tribune, a user named Tahir said that the excise department has decided to abolish the system of manual vehicle registration and directed motorists to submit their registrations books, along with a fee of Rs530, to obtain a smart card.

Following the instruction, thousands of motorists started submitting their applications and also duly paid the required fee but no smart cards have been issued since April.

“Motorists are required to submit their manual books at the time of applying. As soon as the application is submitted, the manual book is declared invalid. Despite that, smart cards have not been issued to date,” Tahir laments. “Whenever the traffic or motorway police stops vehicles, they ask for registration books and when they see that it’s invalid, they issue a challan. Why should we pay fines for the irresponsibility of the excise department?”

Commenting on the undue delay in issuing smart cards, the excise department official explained that the one and the only machine that prints smart cards is installed in the head office of the excise department.

“The secretaries of the department are changed every other day due to which there are undue administrative delays in allotting the printing contract, which is an obstacle in the issuance of a smart card,” he shared.

He further stated that since June 2018, four secretaries of the excise department, namely Dr Ahmed Bilal Babar Shafiq, Sher Azam, Masood and Nabeel Awan have been replaced, meanwhile officers appointed for the position of director general have also been transferred four times in the last year. Owing to these administrative disruptions, the department is unable to meet its targets and facilitate the citizens.

“The former DG Excise Punjab Mian Naseem Sadiq tried to improve the situation of the department and there were no pending cases during his tenure. Moreover, number plates were also being issued on time,” the official recalled, adding that cases of vehicle ownership were also resolved immediately during Sadiq’s tenure and citizens were satisfied with the services of the department.

“Naseem Sadiq stayed here for a year and he worked hard to restore the image of the department by giving the government millions of rupees in revenue,” he said. “The recovery target was achieved by 120% which is a record but at present, the situation has worsened and recovery has been stopped.”

Regarding the ongoing situation, Director Excise Faisalabad Fiza Shah said that the issue is not specific to Faisalabad but it relates to the entire province of Punjab.

“Officers have been informing motorists about the situation and attempts are being made to alleviate the situation so that people don’t face any difficulties. However, these issues have to be solved at the headquarters for which the department is working very hard,” she concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2019.