21,000 smart driving licences uncollected

Around 21,000 smart driving licences are lying at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority's (BRTA) Chattogram office, as the clients have not collected them, claimed officials.

BRTA officials said clients have not collected these licences for a long time despite sending messages on their mobile phones as well as announcing through loudspeakers and public notices in newspapers.

"We are in trouble as they are not taking these licences despite repeated requests," BRTA Chattogram Director (Engineer) Shafiquzzaman Bhuiyan told The Daily Star.

According to the BRTA Chattogram office, the work of printing 12.45 lakh smart driving licences was piled up for more than two years due to complications related to BRTA's contract with a company named Tiger IT Bangladesh Limited.

On August 29, 2021, BRTA signed an agreement with another company named BMTF and finally started providing smart card licences on October 10 of the same year.

Around two third of the customers have already collected the licences.

BRTA did not deliver driving licences for almost two years, except for urgent cases. During that period, drivers used the Interim Acknowledgement Receipt as a temporary permit to drive vehicles. They did not get driving licences even after passing the written, oral and practical tests.

"I had to suffer for the last two years for not getting my licence," said Mohammad Shahjahan, a resident of Amanbazar.

"Many residents went abroad after completing the process to get a licence while they were in the country," said the Chattogram BRTA director.

"However, as the printing and distribution was stopped for a long time, they left the country without receiving those documents," he said.