Transport Office Disarray: Embossed Plate Installation Takes Hours, Middlemen Control the Process

भदौ ६, २०८२ १६:२९

Kathmandu: At the Gurjudhara Transport Office, service recipients say installing an embossed number plate takes half a day and is nearly impossible without paying middlemen. After the government made embossed number plates mandatory, employees have been openly directing applicants to brokers stationed outside the office, where extra fees are charged to complete the work.

The government has set September 17 as the deadline for all vehicles to have embossed number plates, leading to long queues and growing pressure at transport offices. In Gurjudhara, applicants who inquire about the process are told to contact middlemen waiting in tents outside. These brokers charge money but make the process easier, creating what many describe as an “officially protected” business.

On Thursday, service recipient Narendra Kapali arrived at Gurjudhara Transport Office at 10 am. He described the office as disorganized, housed in tin huts with no clear system to guide visitors. “I came at 10 am to get an embossed number plate, but no one gave clear instructions. The process is so complicated that even educated people struggle. We don’t know where to go or what to do,” Kapali told Tekpana. “When I asked the employees, they told me to hand over the work to the middlemen outside and pay a service fee.”

Kapali said that when he insisted on managing the process himself, staff became rude and pressured him to go through brokers. Outside the office, middlemen openly charge fees under the pretense of handling paperwork, while government employees turn a blind eye.

Santaman Shakya, another applicant, faced similar issues. He had purchased a motorcycle six months ago and already paid Rs 12,000 in taxes. Now, with another annual tax cycle approaching, he worried about added costs. “Even when I said I would pay the government directly, no employee explained the process. They kept sending me from one counter to another. In the end, I had to pay 500 rupees to a middleman. It’s very confusing,” Shakya said.

Service recipients also criticized the government for the high fee of Rs 2,500 for two-wheelers. Kapali said, “It’s too expensive. We already pay multiple taxes and renew the blue book every year. Charging Rs 2,500 for a plate feels like fraud. The process is so complicated that without a middleman, nothing moves. People stand in long lines for hours and still suffer.”

Adding to the frustration, most applicants are unclear about the actual use of embossed plates. They are rushing to transport offices mainly out of fear of fines or imprisonment, even though the government has not yet installed machines to read the new plates.

Netra Prasad Bhattarai, Chief of Gurjudhara Transport Office, admitted that managing the rush is difficult. He said the office sees around 150 applicants daily, but even this number is overwhelming due to limited infrastructure and manpower. “With our current capacity, we cannot manage the embossed plate distribution smoothly. This is additional work for our office under Bagmati Province, and it is very difficult to handle,” he said.

Bhattarai noted that each application requires careful verification of vehicle files and plate numbers, which increases the workload. “Once September 17 arrives, the daily number of applicants may rise to 500 or even 1,000. That will be unmanageable in the current situation. We have written to the Department of Transport Management requesting additional staff,” he said.

On-the-spot reporting suggests the situation may worsen after September 17, when the number of service recipients doubles, forcing many more to depend on middlemen and face further delays.