Cost-prohibitive : Switch to RFID stickers expensive for govt and residents alike

LAHORE:

After months of deliberation and despite several departments having reservations, the proposal to introduce Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) stickers got the Punjab Cabinet’s approval much to the dismay of the province’s residents.

RFID’s rise to fame was seen in the second world war and the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation’s (NRTC) plans to install the technology, in the form of stickers, on more than 18 million vehicles and motorcycles in the country’s most populous province as a replacement for vehicle registration smart cards.

Punjab Minister for Excise and Taxation, Hafiz Mumtaz Ahmed, while talking to The Express Tribune stated that the main objective of the project was to facilitate the people by combining the services of different departments and to improve government enforcement and regulation especially with regard to token taxes. Proponents of the plan, like Ahmed, have termed the RFID sticker as a vehicle passport. However, the passport is not free. “It is likely that the sticker will cost around Rs 2,000,” Ahmed said.

A price point which has irked the province’s vehicle owners and been labeled steep. Wasim, a shopkeeper at Liberty Market, while talking to The Express Tribune said that this government has not completed its previous projects and has come up with a new one which has no chance of success.

“If they want us to affix an RFID sticker, they should provide it free of cost as I have already paid the price of a smart card and computerized number plate,” he said.

Muhammad Shahbaz, a school teacher in the provincial capital, expressing his disapproval of the plan stated that he had bought a car two years ago and still has not received his computerized plate and had to wait months to get a smart card. “Now, if the government asks me for Rs 2,000 for a sticker, not only will I have to wait months, it will be a financial burden on middle class people like me,” an irate Shahbaz said, adding that the plan was unfair.

Similarly, Mohammad Afzal, who works as a clerk in a government office, said that he could not even afford to pay the high price of petrol for his motorcycle so for the government to expect him to cough up Rs 2,000 for a sticker was laughable. “The sticker is going to fail massively,” Afzal predicted.

However, it is not only the province’s residents who are displeased with the proposal, officials of the Excise Department, Transport Department, Home Department, and Police Department have raised questions about the viability and success of the project.

Excise department officials, who spoke to The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity, said that RFID stickers were not used for vehicle tax collection in any country, their only use was to administer parking.

“It is impossible to put new stickers on the large number of vehicles and motorcycles in Punjab. Besides, installing RFID readers will be expensive,” an official said.

An official from the Punjab Safe Cities Authority, requesting anonymity, concurred with the views of the Excise Department’s employees. “We are currently installing Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras across Punjab which work great in recognizing computerized number plates. Switching to RFID stickers now will cost an absurd amount,” the official informed The Express Tribune.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2021.