Dr. Kamal Soi, International Road Safety Expert, who is also Member- National Road Safety Council, today expressed concern over the grave inconvenience being caused to the people of Punjab as no Driving Licenses and Vehicle Registration Certificates are being issued in the State. There is hue & cry and outrage among the general public in view of complete inaction on the part of the State Government as all the applications for issuance of DL & RCs are pending.
Addressing media persons here today, Dr. Soi said, “To the best of my knowledge, the earlier vendor M/s. Smart Chip Pvt. Ltd., exited from the project in November 2024 after obtaining permission from the High Court as the earlier rates quoted in the year 2019 had become unviable by then. To ensure continuity of the DL & RCs in the State, the Transport Department sought written consent from L-2 & L-3 Vendors, who had participated in the tender in the year 2019, to execute DL & RC project for the remaining period of Contract of the exiting vendor i.e. upto 29.09.2025 on same terms of the exiting vendor. While L-3 bidder declined to the said offer L-2 bidder namely M/s. M-Tech Innovations Ltd. gave its consent to provides its services for the remaining period or till such time a new vendor is selected by the Transport Department.”
“As per my understanding, the Transport Department has also submitted its affidavit in the Hon’ble High Court on 20.11.2024 that it will complete the process of handover of the project from the earlier vendor to the new vendor within 1 month. However, nothing has been done till date and there is a lot of hue & cry and outrage among the general public as no DL & RCs are being issued in the State. In fact, the selected vendor had been issued LOI by the Transport Department to take over the project from 16.12.2024 and execute the agreement by 21.12.2024. However, leave aside taking over of the project, for the last 1 month the selected vendor has neither submitted any Bank Guarantee to take over the project nor has taken any steps to take over the project from the exiting vendor and the public is left in complete lurch and there is huge pencency of DL & RCs in the State”, he said.
Considering the aforesaid state of affairs of non-implementation of DL & RCs going on in the State and the way the Transport Department is proceeding with the matter, it cannot be expected that the Transport Department can come up with the tender for issuance of DL & RCs in the State any time soon and can complete the same in next 3 months.
Dr. Soi, said, “In view of the aforesaid, to ensure that the public is not unnecessarily inconvenienced, it is suggested that, till the time a new vendor is selected by the Transport Department for implementation of DL & RCs in the State through a tender process, the DL & RC project may be implemented in the State through National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI) which is a 100% government ownership Company under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and has a credible history in the transportation sector for more than 25 years now . NICSI has competent and credible empaneled vendors who are compliant with the GFR of Government process management besides many other offerings. NICSI has shortlisted and empaneled vendors who offer their service in compliance of GSR 174(E) dated 01/03/2019 for issuance and printing of Card based Driving License and Registration Certificate projects.”
“In the light of the above, till the time a new vendor is selected post completion of tendering process, we request the Transport Department to award the contract of printing of Driving Licenses and Vehicle Registration Certificates in the State of Punjab to NICSI to correct the current anomalous situation so that public is non unnecessary inconvenienced for want of its DL & RCs”, he added.
For Raahat-The Safe Community Foundation
Dr. Kamal Soi,
PhD, MSc, MBA, MEP (IIMA), MITE, MACRS, MCIHT (International Road Safety Expert), Member- National Road Safety Council GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. Member -European Association for Accident Research & Analysis, Adviser- District Planning Board, Ludhiana. Government of Punjab.
