Bhaktapur.
Transport Management Office Bhaktapur, which has been conducting the examination, distribution and renewal of driver’s licenses, has given permission to the private sector to conduct the examination without informing the provincial ministry. The office has given permission for the written test of driver’s license to Budhathoki Traders and Training School Pvt.
In making such an arrangement, the head of the office has been accused of irregularities by allowing the private sector to conduct the examination contrary to the rules, as it is necessary to discuss and obtain permission from the relevant ministry.
The ministry has informed that the government of Bagmati Province has given permission for the examination to the private sector without giving any information to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Transport.
Asman Tamang, secretary of the ministry, said that he had no information about the written exam being given to the private sector. He said, “If that has been done, it is an irregularity, the head of the office there has done a rogue job, giving it to the private sector despite being his own examination office is rogue.”
The secretary of the ministry, Tamang, said that while conducting the examination in his office, he did not make any procedure to allow the private sector to conduct the examination.
The head of the office, Shivkumar Niraula, claimed that it was given to the private sector as per the procedure. He said, “There is a procedure called 2078, the procedure for selecting the place of driving test, experimental test, we have given it according to that, it is arranged that the person who conducts the experimental test should provide the exam hall free of charge, and it has been given accordingly.”
An employee of the office said that even if it is to be given according to the procedure, it should be given to the Easyway Trial Center, where the experimental test is currently being conducted, but without doing so, the head of the office made an irregularity and gave the permission to conduct the test arbitrarily, contrary to the procedure claimed by the head of the office. According to that employee, permission was given to the private sector to conduct the exam against the procedure by publishing a notice in the Himalaya Times newspaper without informing the other employees of the office.
The office has also given permission for the experimental test of buses and minibuses to Budhathoki Motor Driving Center. In Bhaktapur, an agreement has been reached to conduct the experimental test for getting driver’s license for buses and minibuses at Budhathoki Motor Driving Center.
Head of the office Niraula said, “We have made an agreement with Budhathoki Traders and Training School Pvt. Ltd. to conduct the experimental test of buses and minibuses. It will start after the quota is opened by the ministry. It is mentioned in the procedure that a free examination hall should be arranged where the experimental test is conducted, so it has been given accordingly.”
As claimed by the head of the office, even though it is the procedure of 2078, the office has been conducting the examination by arranging the examination hall in its own office and not following this procedure until now. According to the employees, even if the procedure is to be followed, only the written examination of buses and minibuses should be allowed to the Pvt.
In this regard, the head of the office Niraula said that although the practical examination of buses and minibuses has started according to the procedure, permission should be given for the place of the written examination, but the reason is that the space in the current office is narrow. He said, “The office’s written examination hall was too narrow, 80 examinees had to be kept there, it would not be hot or not hot when the sun was shining, it would be ‘disturbed’ by noises like when it rained. We have given it to the private sector to reduce overcrowding in the office and for the benefit of the examinees. .”
But the examinees said that the office gave them a lot of trouble. The examinees who came to the examination center today said that they had to go to the office for procedures such as submission of the examination fee, taking photos, health examination, etc., they had to go to the office for the written test and then they had to go to the practical test again.
Information officer Govindaraj Sivakoti said that the office plans to make the present examination hall a meeting hall and said that the office should start the process of improvement to address the many complaints about transportation.
On the other hand, Khagendra Budhathoki, the owner of Budhathoki Traders and Training School Pvt. He said that after the office called for bids to provide free examination halls that met the criteria, his company was selected as per the rules by submitting the bids.
“There is no question of irregularity in that, it will only cause problems to the middleman”, he said, “We have made an agreement to provide the examination hall which is conducted by the transport office free of charge, the written examination has been conducted for years in the experimental examination place at Chabhil, as it happened there, here too. That’s how it happened.” – Rasus