Driving licence applicants face hardships in Karachi, grace period extended
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KARACHI: Police resorted to baton-charge on Monday as scores of applicants desperate to apply for or renew driving licences thronged Motor Vehicle Inspection and Driving Licence branches in Clifton and North Nazimabad areas of the city.
Hundreds of people had reached the Clifton, Nazimabad and Korangi driving licence branches to get their licence issued, after DIG-Traffic Dr Amir Sheikh had earlier warned Karachi's drivers to get their licences issued or renewed within the shortest possible time.
He had also said violators could be sent to jail under a provision of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance.
Know more: Karachi traffic police may jail drivers without licence from today
The driving licence Clifton branch was sealed as a crowd of applicants chanted slogans to enter the office. At the Nazimabad branch, police baton-charged applicants to disperse the burgeoning crowd.
Taking notice of the disorder, Sindh Home Minister Suhail Anwar Siyal ordered an extension of one month in the date to get licences issued or renewed. He also ordered an inquiry of the three licence branches.
“For those people who have their driving licences but they do not carry with them, we would give them a chance to bring the document and show to us to get their vehicles released,” DIG-Traffic Dr Amir Sheikh was quoted as saying in a Dawn report.
“Those who do not have licences altogether or have fake ones would face a harsh penalty and imprisonment of up to one month. Their vehicles would also be impounded.”
He claimed that the entire exercise was aimed at streamlining driving on city roads.
While admitting that there would be pressure on driving licence branches in the city after the traffic police’s announcement, the DIG claimed that all arrangements to help a maximum number of applicants had been made.
According to official figures, only 1.2 million people in the metropolis have driving licences; whereas the total number of registered vehicles in Karachi is 3.8m.
How to get a licence made
Procedure to apply for a driving licence with a validity of three or five years is as follows:
- Download and print the Medical Fitness and Drivers Licence Form from the Capital City Police Karachi website's download page.
- Paste two passport size photographs to your medical fitness and application form.
- Attach a copy of your Computerised National Identity Card.
- Attach medical fitness certificate, which will be conducted by a medical doctor at the licencing office.
- Attach your original learners driving permit
- Pay the applicable fee at the nearest post office.
- Buy and study 'The Highway and Motor Code'.
- Arrive at the branch nearest to your area and go to the information desk to get your papers checked.
- Follow the instructions given by the information desk.
How to get a learners licence made
Procedure to apply for a learners licence is as follows:
- Download and print the Medical Fitness and Learners Drivers Licence Form from the Capital City Police Karachi website's
- Paste two passport size photographs to your medical fitness and application form.
- Attach a copy of your Computerised National Identity Card.
- At the Driving Licence Branch, have your papers checked from the information desk.
- Pay the applicable fee at the nearest post office.
- Buy and study 'The Highway and Motor Code'.
- Attain medical fitness certificate from the medical officer.
- Get your photograph taken at the License Branch office.
- Receive your learners licence.
— Source city traffic police website
Fee structure
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On DawnNews
Comments (33) Closed
Nov 02, 2015 03:09pm
Good move by the traffic police.
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Nov 02, 2015 03:13pm
Driving license renewal process is simple in developed world via online, why we don't resort to those practices?Every time people flock to a few DL renwal offices, we should triple the number of renewal loclocations. And driving should be taught as a subject at matriculation and intermediate education level.
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Nov 02, 2015 03:13pm
Booming business for under the counter money to get an early token and cut short the wait
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Nov 02, 2015 03:39pm
Now the traffic police rates would go up. Good luck common men of urban sindh
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Nov 02, 2015 03:41pm
There are more than 6 million unlicensed drivers in Karachi. There are only 4 traffic police sections in the city with net daily capacity of maximum 300 license applications per day. Even if all four sections work at 100% capacity, it will take at least 200 days to issue 6 million licenses.
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Nov 02, 2015 04:06pm
I was recently in Clifton branch of license office. The staff was professional and nobody asked me for a bribe or anything. I followed the protocol, took the exams and in the end was successful. The new DIG Traffic has tightened the screws and is doing a good job!
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Nov 02, 2015 04:07pm
My licence is in worn-out condition. You cannot see anything. Can I get the duplicate licence showing them the original NIC and worn out licence.
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Nov 02, 2015 04:16pm
On record on paper a blind man can have a driver licence... the problem is do we care about the lives of our people in those hands who can not read even the road signs.. they can get a driver license in a jiffy by bribes ... what we need is sincerity and honesty... which we don't have any....
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Nov 02, 2015 04:45pm
Sindh Home Minister is requested to allow three months time to get licenses since 3.8 million vehicles are not a joke. DIG traffic should also review his decision taken in haste if really he wants this move to work for a better traffic.
Besides fee structure may also be reviewed as present one is higher.
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Nov 02, 2015 05:19pm
Please implement Sind and nationwide.
Every time license renewed applicants should be required to read traffic rules and high way code
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Nov 02, 2015 05:21pm
@Anwar I agree with your suggestion
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Nov 02, 2015 05:26pm
The traffic police has been doing a roaring business............in karachi......only Karachites have to suffer this abuse as it is an orphan city.....no such action in Lahore.....as they rule Pakistan...
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Nov 02, 2015 05:26pm
Implementing strict driving rules is need of the hour in a mega city like Karachi, but Karachiites should be given handsome time like 2 months to get issued or renewed licence without any hassle.
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Nov 02, 2015 05:28pm
If rest of the 2.6 million tries to get license with all means and pays merely 100 on bribe; it'll be around 260 millions. isn't?
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Nov 02, 2015 05:59pm
Rules are only for the common man, for those who have political , defence and govt affiliations will never get affected by this. Wish law would be same for all.
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Nov 02, 2015 06:06pm
Good move. I personally know people who have been driving without licence for years. One such person was caught once and he paid Rs 50 to traffic person but never bothered to obtain a licence.
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Nov 02, 2015 06:30pm
I would like to appreciate Dawn's effort for providing the detailed steps and relevant data in order to get driving license.
I hope it will be a good start for the applicants and save some of their valuable time.
Keep it up Guys! Thank you for being a part of solution.
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Nov 02, 2015 07:29pm
Karachi police are becoming stricter than British police, it seems
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Nov 02, 2015 07:37pm
It is a fact that the hard working people of Karachi are being fleeced by the prevailing current traffic department mostly consisting of non Karachites.The local governments will be formed by the end of this year and elected mayor a true representative of the people Karachi will be there to perform as per wishes and like of the people and hopefully the first demand of the elected mayor will be to put the entire police,traffic police and the licensing department under the control of the elected body to devise corruption free procedure.The PM and CJP must take corrective action for avoiding this bribery scandal.This is high time to make this country corrupt free.
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Nov 02, 2015 08:40pm
Traffic police should understand why people don't make license. Problem is at their end. There are merely 5 or 6 branches for making DL in the city of 22 million.
Is it so difficult for these geniuses to understand? Increase the no. of branches so that people may go there from their places of work.
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Nov 02, 2015 08:43pm
Why suddenly this has become such a huge issue? Is this the biggest problem facing Karachiites?
It looks like a revenge of waderas from Sindh against the citizens of this city.
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Nov 02, 2015 09:28pm
Good move. Atleast some thing positive coming up.
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Nov 02, 2015 10:12pm
pl also check the lic office people and there touts . stp them from making mony from poor people
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Nov 02, 2015 11:08pm
Only in Karachi.... you get punished for not having driving license and get baton-charged for trying to get a driving license. Having local police would solve 90% of these issues.
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Nov 03, 2015 12:04am
Can citizens or Pakistan coming to Pakistan for a month or so, use their country's driver license, or how it works. Can anyone advise what are the requirements. Thanks. God Bless everyone.
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Nov 03, 2015 12:05am
I am living in Canada and feel that, first, the issue is not the process of how it is done in Pakistan. It is just 3 locations for the whole city. This is ridiculous. Secondly here in Canada the driving license is equal to the NIC card. Driving license is enough to prove one's identity. I don't need to carry my any other document to prove my identity. In Canada, one has to go through the written test and also pass the driving test. For renewals we have to go to the office to have the latest picture taken. I think in Pakistan people and driving licensing authority are far away for all these practices. Driving license is nothing but for government to make extra revenue.
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Nov 03, 2015 12:11am
Too short of a period
Should be 6-12 months atleast
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Nov 03, 2015 12:39am
You forgot one major step for getting a new drivers license. After "Arrive at the branch nearest to your area and go to the information desk to get your papers checked." you need to add "Pay Rs 3000 to Rs 5000 to the clerk under the table".
Or I guess "Follow the instructions given by the information desk." includes that step but is verbally transmitted.
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Nov 03, 2015 02:21am
People in Pakistan take pride in defying rules and think its being cool to do so.
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Nov 03, 2015 05:13am
I think some decision makers get together and for fun they say lets do something for fun. Lets tell people they should get license or get jailed, provide no additional support, nor additional service centers to maximize the fun. History is evident with such decisions in the past. case in point, vehicle's registration number sand blasted on windshield in 1990s, and passport fee increase to Rs. 800 from Rs 400 (1990s). It is almost a joke for them. Why can't they think about the impact their ill-planned decision will have and spend more time resolving the issue instead of creating new ones. How about giving ample time to get the legal license, and then start cracking down. It seems they don't pre-plan, look at impact, and devise strategy for success. Instead, they devise plan to have fun out of public expense. Public is already going through enough (no electricity, no water, no gas, increased inflation etc). Please show some mercy when making decision impacting ordinary people.
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Nov 03, 2015 06:09am
This happens in every decent civilized country in the world. However, I should mention that for a city like Karachi their should be at least five to ten outposts where DL are issued. To obtain a DL is cumbersome and there is serious corruption in DL Department.
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Nov 03, 2015 09:05am
Sindh Rangers, please help us. Your next target should be Karachi Traffic police and their bribe taking wardens.
Karachi Traffic police must first eradicate bribery of their wardens and officers, be they be on roads or at licence office... Only then they must impose deadlines...
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Nov 03, 2015 06:36pm
@ismail give them all the resources and see the efficiency..... sorry, very easy to criticize which you have done :) please appreciate
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