Persistent delays: In Swat, getting a driver’s licence no easy feat

Officials reveal around 16,000 applicants waiting for past two year for their licence.

SWAT:

Getting a driving license in Swat is no easy task and weighs heavy on the pockets of many.

Officials of the Swat district motor vehicle licensing authority have revealed that around 16,000 local applicants have been waiting for their driving licence for the past two years. Of the around 18,000 applications received by the authority, only 2,000 have been issued licenses, said one official on the condition of anonymity.

When approached for comments, a number of applicants who have been waiting for their driving licence since long claimed that the licensing authority keeps delaying the process on one pretext or the other. Some even accused officials of the licensing office of colluding with agents, who prepare licensing documents, to fraudulently extract money from them.

Minhajuddin, a resident of Mingora, said he applied for a driving licence 14 months back. He said he submitted the licence fee of Rs1,350 with his application but license office officials told him to first get his documents attested by the agents outside. When he went to the agents, they told him to submit Rs2,200 more, he said. “When I told the agent that this fee is unfair, he said I will have to pay Rs1,000 more for the final driving test,” said Minhajuddin. “I don’t want to give anyone bribe. If I cannot be issued a driving license on government fee, then I will not get one made,” he added.

But choosing not to have a driving licence is no solution, as hundreds of people face trouble at the hands of the traffic police for lacking the document.



Safiullah, a resident of Amankot standing outside the license office, told The Express Tribune that he has been trying to get a driving licence made for almost two years now. “Whenever I come to the [licence] office, they either change the dates for issuing licences, or say the concerned deputy superintendent of police (DSP) has been transferred, or that some policy has been changed and the documentation has to be revised, or that the office is being shifted,” he lamented.

This time, he said he was turned back because the police officials told him that no new driving licences are being issued and that they are only renewing old ones. Saifullah said he is often fined by the traffic police for not having a driving licence. “Even if I had a learners’ driving permit it would help but the licence office officials don’t even issue that,” he added.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Rashid Iqbal, when asked about the delays in the issuance of driving licenses said, “There are some flaws in the process, I agree, but the blame of delays cannot be put on the licence office because most of the people just want to get their licences in a wink,” he said.

Iqbal said a learning driving permit is issued to all applicants, who are then told to appear for a driving test after some time. “But around 95% of the people who get a learning permit do not want to appear in the driving test because they lack the required driving skills, so they seek help in getting their licence made without a driving test,” he claimed. The SDPO urged all applicants to contact him directly if anyone at the office asks them for extra money.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2013.