At least 481,000 applications for smart cards for driving licenses are pending with the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) because contractor companies are not supplying cards.
Concerned people said that without smart card for driving license one cannot apply for government job as a driver, while many people also face trouble in private jobs.
Apart from this, smart driving license card is also required for driving jobs abroad.
However, BRTA has introduced e-paper driving license system. A person getting a driving license receives a document containing a QR code after paying a certain fee after passing the BRTA’s driving test and according to BRTA officials, anyone with this document is allowed to drive. will be given till he/she gets a smart card for driving license.
Indian firm Madras Security Printers (MSP) supplies smart cards to new applicants for driving licences. As of March 16 this year, according to the BRTA, there are 310,000 pending applications on MSP. Earlier, the Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) was given the task of providing 1.25 million smart card driving licences, but 171,000 applicants are yet to receive the smart cards.