Pakistan’s Sindh has over 3,00,000 people awaiting vehicle number plates since 2016 – Republic World
The troubles don’t seem to end for people in Pakistan as recent reports revealed that as many as three lakh car buyers have been waiting for a vehicle registration number in Pakistan’s Sindh for around six years. As per an ANI report, citing The Dawn, commoners have been waiting to get a number plate for their cars from 2016, despite having deposited around Rs 300 million to the exchequer.
The troubles of getting their car registered officially added to the woes of Pakistanis who have been dealing with high inflation, shaky economy and COVID-19 pandemic led repercussions.
Pakistan’s Sindh has over 300,000 car buyers who haven’t got number plates since 2016
The issue was highlighted by the car dealers and importers in a meeting with the officials from the taxation and excise department. As per the Dawn report, Pakistani excise officials have already collected advanced payments of Rs 1,000 for each vehicle at the time of vehicle purchase and registration, however, they haven’t received the vehicle number yet. The excise department had been unable to provide numbers to as many as 3,00,000 such vehicles in the last six years.
Aijaz Ahmed, the main coordinator of the Automotive Traders and Importers Association (ATIA), who was present at the discussion, told Dawn that the non-issuance of number plates had become a severe problem for automobile buyers. However, an excise official told Dawn that the issue will be resolved in the coming month. Vehicle number plates with new designs have been approved, and the backlog issue will be resolved in March, according to a senior excise and revenue official.
Apart from this, the Sindh government intends to implement a new biometric system for automobile registration and transfer. The official further informed that the biometric method for vehicle registration and the transfer would be implemented later in the year. The existing computer system had become obsolete, and it was recommended that it be replaced. Officials from the excise department told in the meeting that a software overhaul project was already in the early stages of procurement.
As Pakistan continues to reel under severe economic crisis and rising inflation, Imran Khan earlier last week accepted that people in Pakistan are toiling for bread and butter and assuaged them by saying that he is “trying to find ways to reduce people’s burden.”
(With inputs from ANI, Image: Unsplash)
