KARACHI: The Sindh government on Thursday started issuing the retro-reflective number plates of vehicles with new security feature.

Sindh Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla handed over number plates to some car owners at a programme held at the motor registration wing at Civic Centre.

He said the new number plates got several security features, aluminium sheets and bar code.

He said the number could easily be read even during night-time.

The minister said it was not possible to forge the new number plates or make a duplicate of them.

He said that soon the traffic police would be able to get all details of vehicles by just scanning the number plates and it would become easier to catch stolen vehicles on roads.

Mr Chawla said in the first phase, the new number plates would be given upon registration of new vehicles.

“Efforts are being made to issue new number plates to as many vehicles as possible within a year,” he said.

The minister, however, made no firm commitment to end the backlog of number plates of hundreds of thousands of vehicles in the province.

Recently, the Sindh ombudsman was informed by excise officials that 4.364 million number plates of cars and motorcycles had been pending in Sindh.

The officials said that the backlog of four-wheelers (commercial and non-commercial) number plates was 308,963. The excise department had already collected Rs1,000 from each vehicle owner at the time of registration.

The excise department informed the ombudsman office that due to limited resources, the department could only cater to 53,000 number plates of four-wheelers and 207,000 of two-wheelers in one year.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2022

Opinion

Editorial

E-governance
Updated 10 Jan, 2025

E-governance

Wishing for a viable e-governance system seems like a pipe dream when stable internet connectivity is not guaranteed.
Khuzdar rampage
Updated 10 Jan, 2025

Khuzdar rampage

Authorities must explain how terrorists were able to commandeer the area for eight hours.
Beyond wheelchairs
10 Jan, 2025

Beyond wheelchairs

THE KP government’s Rs370m assistance programme for persons with disabilities is a positive step, not only in ...
Taking cover
Updated 09 Jan, 2025

Taking cover

IT is unfortunate that, instead of taking ownership of important decisions, our officials usually seem keener to ...
A living hell
09 Jan, 2025

A living hell

WHAT Donald Trump does domestically when he enters the White House in just under two weeks is frankly the American...
A right denied
09 Jan, 2025

A right denied

DESPITE citizens possessing the constitutional and legal right to access it, federal ministries are failing to...