THIS refers to the many letters on this topic in recent past. I am a senior citizen and it seems there is a mafia in place which has earned big money by purposely making it extremely difficult for citizens to get registration and documentation of vehicles.

In the last 40 years --in Sindh at least-- the design and format of vehicle number plates were changed three times. Citizens would like to know why it was necessary to do so if not to fleece the people.

Then there are fancy, political and ethnic number plates on vehicles. Why aren’t such vehicles impounded and the vehicle owners made to use the Sindh government approved number plates?

To a lesser extent a similar situation prevails in the driving licence departments of the province. Our roads are teeming with incompetent drivers because people obtained their licences without being tested.

In my opinion the federal and provincial governments need to avail the services of National Database and Registration Authority. Both driver’s licence and vehicle registration should be done by Nadra as it has the expertise and the means to do so.

The United Kingdom has one authority, the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Centre (DVLC) in Swansea, Wales. This organisation registers all vehicles and drivers in the country. This has done away with red tapism and the system is hassle-free.

Dr Serajuddaula Syed
Karachi

(2)

APROPOS the letters on the above subject. I bought my car three years ago and have still not received the actual plate, despite payment of the requisite fees. Now, the plates are virtually illegible and deface my otherwise elegant car.

The car dealership had been nice enough to provide very smart, temporary plates but the traffic police have stopped and fined me a number of times for no fault of mine. Thereafter I have resigned myself to the ugly plates --let the authorities try to decipher the number!

From what I can gather, tens of thousands of vehicles are suffering the same fate and the plight of citizens is ignored. However, I notice high-end vehicles sporting custom-made plates and moving freely! Just another example of the Orwellian adage: “some animals are more equal than others!”

Murad Veerjee
Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2020