PML-N MNA opens driving licence office

[LahoreEstate]

PML-N MNA opens driving licence office

* Banners carrying official logo of Traffic Police ask people to visit Umar Suhail Zia’s office to apply for licences
* MNA’s chief coordinator says licence assured after 16 days of lecture at MNA’s office

By Nauman Tasleem




LAHORE: A member of the National Assembly (MNA) from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has opened a driving licence office, where traffic police officials receive applications for issuing licences, Daily Times learnt on Sunday.

A PML-N official also claims that any licence application referred through the MNA would not be declined. He also claims that the licence will be issued in 17 days. Banners inviting people to apply for licences through MNA Umar Suhail Zia Butt are displayed in Model Town and Garden Town. A verse from the holy Quran, translated as “One who saves the life of one person has saved the life of the entire mankind,” is also written on the banners. The banners state that the licences are issued under the supervision of the Traffic Police Model Town Education Wing, and display the cell phone numbers of workers of the PML-N. The banners ask the public to visit Butt’s office at 43-Ataturk Block in Garden Town for the licences. The MNA’s Chief Coordinator Firasat Ali Shah told Daily Times their objective was to help people get licences without hassle. He said any person seeking a driving licence should visit the MNA’s office with a computerised identity card and Rs 60 driving licence ticket.

Officials: “Traffic police officials are present at the office. They will accompany the applicants to the Traffic Police office in Liberty Market, where a deputy superintendent of police will receive the applicants and issues learner’s licences after entering data,” Shah said, adding that after the issuance of the learner’s licence, the applicants would attend training lectures in Butt’s office for 16 days. “An inspector of Traffic Police delivers a one-hour lecture daily, and every applicant is bound to attend it,” he said.

Lectures: He said Traffic Police officials would accompany the applicants to the Traffic Licensing Branch on the 17th day, and help them obtain the licence. Shah said the lectures were mere formality, and Butt had instructed the Traffic Police officials to issue licences to all applicants applying through his office. Shah claimed the final test would also be a ‘very easy task’ for the applicant.

Butt told Daily Times he was doing a public service. City Traffic Police spokesman Ali Nawaz said Traffic Police was facilitating members of the National Assembly as well as members of the provincial assembly. However, he denied that licences were issued in 17 days, and said the rules bound people to get a learner’s licence first, and to apply for a proper licence after 42 days.