KATHMANDU: The government’s plan of making embossed number plates mandatory for vehicle registration, renewal and ownership transfer from September 17 has been affected due to last week’s arson and vandalism in several government offices during Gen Z protest. More than 600,000 printed embossed number plates were destroyed in arson, according to government officials.
While the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) has not made a formal announcement yet, the destruction of printed number plates mean the process will not move ahead as planned earlier.
According to an official at the DoTM, printed embossed number plates ready for dispatch to different transport management offices were destroyed in the fire.
“Embossed plates were to be made mandatory for new vehicle registrations, ownership transfers and renewals across the country from September 17. More than 600,000 plates were ready for dispatch to different offices,” the official told MeroAuto. “Unfortunately, protesters set them all on fire.”
About 819,000 embossed plates had been printed by mid-August. Some 200,000 of this had already been sent to provincial offices. The remaining 619,000 were awaiting dispatch when the fire destroyed them.
He added that the ministry will decide when to resume installation after assessing the damage.
However, license plates stored at provincial offices can still be installed.
According to DOTM, while the exact loss is still being assessed, it is estimated that over 600,000 number plates were destroyed. By mid-August, about 819,000 embossed plates had been printed, of which some 200,000 had already been sent to provincial offices. The remaining 619,000 were awaiting dispatch when the fire destroyed them.
In the first week of August, a meeting chaired by Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Devendra Dahal had decided to make embossed number plates mandatory from September 17. The DoTM had accordingly issued a notice on August 19 directing vehicle owners to install embossed plates.
The government had awarded a $43.78 million contract to Decatur-Tiger IT to implement embossed number plate system in May 2016. As per the contract, embossed number plates were to be installed on 2.5 million vehicles by November 2021. However, embossed number plates could be fitted on only one percent of vehicles by that deadline. The contract was later extended to November 2025.
As of now, embossed plates have been installed on only around 90,000 vehicles, according to DoTM.
