ISLAMABAD-The motorists plying their vehicles on the Islamabad roads with expired driving licenses have urged the ITP to start an online mechanism for the renewal of driving licenses as various public and private sectors departments had already adopted digitisation to provide services through online system. Amir Khichi, a resident of G-13, said the traffic department should develop an application like the ‘city Islamabad app’ for providing services to the citizens at their door steps.
He said the complete elimination of coronavirus was not in sight so far, so the e-governance model had become indispensable in such situation. Shahid Raja, a resident of Sector G-7/4, said it is not difficult for the ITP to develop a new application for renewal of licenses on the pattern of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration, which had been offering many services at one-click.
He said the ITP could collaborate with the district administration for addition of license renewal option in the ‘city Islamabad app,’ which already has license verification feature. Shahid said the initiative would not only ease the burden of the police that received a large number of visitors in their working days, but also provide a huge relief to the citizens, who had to visit the office and face a day-long renewal procedure.
A government servant, requesting anonymity, said digitisation was the need of hour as an employee was required to take a leave from his office for the purpose. The ITP have recently suspended its driving license operations, citing increase in the coronavirus cases in the city as a reason. A couple of weeks ago, the ITP resumed the license services after a hiatus of six months with the anti-COVID SOPs, serving 250 motorists per day to keep the virus at bay.
However, unfortunately, the visitors did not observe the health guidelines, so the ITP decided to close the operations on temporary basis. When contacted the ITP, Inspector Rana Muzamil said the police had already forwarded a summary to the Ministry of Interior for linking ITP license services with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to ensure provision of hassle-free services to the motorists.
He said the ITP had directed its officials to refrain from taking action against the motorists with expiry licenses.