Security Printing Center Hands Over First Driver Licences
The Security Printing Center (Security Printing Press) has handed over to the Department of Transport Management the driver’s licences it has printed for the first time. On Friday, the Center’s Executive Director, Devraj Dhungana, handed over the driver’s licences to the Department of Transport Management’s Director of Information and Technology, Keshav Khatiwada.
After the successful completion of test printing of the licences with QR codes, the Center handed over 520 licences in the first phase. Security Printing has stated that, in the second phase, licences will be printed for 1,200 applicants whose details have been received by the Center. The Center has said that licence printing will now continue on a regular basis.
For licence printing, an agreement between the Security Printing Center and the Department of Transport Management was signed on Kartik 12. Under that agreement, the Center must supply 1.2 million licences to the Department within six months.
Printing Capacity and Quality Testing
Executive Director Dhungana stated that printing will proceed at a rapid pace on the basis of the data provided by the Department. He said that the Center can print as many licences as required, depending on how much data the Department sends.
He added that the newly printed licences are being provided to the Department only after their quality has been tested against various standards in laboratories within Nepal.
Long-Standing Licence Problem Addressed
Director Khatiwada of the Department of Transport Management stated that receiving licences from the Security Printing Center has resolved a major problem in this sector.
He said, “For the past four to five years, there has been a problem with licences in the Department. A positive initiative has now been taken to address the problems faced by service users. Recently, we reached an agreement with the Security Printing Center and have received licences. This work will be continued.”
The Department has said that, by developing alternative software, it will be able to provide 2,000 data records per day to the Center. The Department further stated that the new software will be developed within one month.
Location and Printing Schedule
Licence printing began from Kartik 21 at the building of the Security Printing Center located in Panauti Municipality–5 of Kavrepalanchok.
According to Executive Director Dhungana, under the agreement with the Department, 100,000 licences will be printed per month for the first three months, totalling 300,000, and 900,000 licences will be printed over the remaining three months, making 1.2 million licences in total.
He further said that, in addition to driver’s licences, preparations are being made to start printing postage stamps within a few days. After that, citizenship certificates, excise duty stickers, land ownership certificates (lalpurja) and visa stickers will be printed.
Security Features of the New Licence Card
The cards printed by the Center use QR codes instead of chips. They contain high-level security systems. Up to six layers of security technology will be used on the new cards.
The cards will have 34 types of security features, some of which will be visible and some invisible.
Licence Information Now Available on Facebook
Meanwhile, the Department of Transport Management has started posting details of driver’s licences on its Facebook page. Now, applicants will be able to check the Facebook page to find out whether their licence has been printed.
Information on licences that have been prepared is available on the Department’s official Facebook page. Issuing a notice on Thursday, the Department stated that, after its office was destroyed during the Gen-Z movement and technical problems arose in the online system, the previous automated information system was disrupted, so arrangements have been made to provide information through the Facebook page.
According to the Department’s Information Officer, Ganesh Man Singh Rai, the automated notification system that sends messages to applicants whose online forms for urgent driver’s licence printing have been approved, asking them to come to collect their licence within 72 hours, is currently out of operation.
