LAHORE: The Punjab government on Monday launched universal registration plates – same serial, same design and same numerics – for vehicles throughout the province, calling it a “revolutionary step that will end corruption, bring efficiency to the department and improve public service”.

Addressing a press conference, provincial excise minister Hafiz Mumtaz Ahmad said that the step would cleans the entire supply chain.

“People used to prefer registration numbers of certain districts and avoid others. From now on, the same serial would cover the whole province,” Mumtaz said.

“The resale value of vehicles of certain districts’ registration was also influenced. Even that impact will be taken care of. This is a practical manifestation of PTI vision of one Pakistan for all; all vehicles of the entire province would have the same value at least for registration reasons. Along with universal serial, the department is also starting electronic options for auction of preferred numbers. Now, people can get the number of their choice by participating in an online auction. So far, people were thronging to their district headquarters (like Lahore) to take part in auctions for certain preferred numbers. Not any more; the entire process is being taken online. Since new serials would be launched province-wide, so would be their auction. Since auction also involved physical cash handling, now even that process would go online,” he explained.

Flanked by the director general, the minister said that “the contractor has been given 45 days to clear the backlog of number plates,” which according to a questioner, now hovers at 2.5 million. “It is due to these troubles (rush at offices, corruption in the process and agent mafia operating at most of the levels), the department has decided to go online; from now on, even the appointments will be taken online. If someone has trouble taking appointments, he/she can simply call the helpline and the department employees would arrange appointments. The department is reducing human interaction in all its operations,” the minister insisted.

The minister also said that people preferred online payment of vehicles tax, defying the common perception that people are not comfortable with the process. “The department has collected over Rs1 billion through online payments. This year, 30,600 vehicle owners used online payment options and numbers are increasing.” .

Earlier, the director general explained the rationale behind new universal serial and design of plates, saying that old plates design included district codes and electronic chips and were hard to read by the security cameras. The new design has been worked out keeping in view problems with the previous one.

The minister avoided questions regarding issuing of a liquor license to a five star hotel, which is now being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau. “The case is being investigated at the highest level. So, let’s wait for the result of this investigation rather than seeking a departmental view at this stage.” The journalists, however, kept insisting that they were asking about “departmental procedures; whether they were rigged to grant a license or not,” and not details of the investigation. The minister, however, refused to respond and kept insisting to wait for the investigations.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2020