The Bagmati Province government has initiated the digitization of around 2.3 million vehicle registration files, plates, and other documents at its transport management offices. For this task, one hundred data entry operators have been deployed. Vehicle owners have been notified to submit their original files to the transport office.
The transport management office in Gurjudhara has requested vehicle owners with license plates numbered 1 to 55 to submit their original files within 15 days for digitization. This request pertains to the details of two-wheeled vehicles registered with the office. Efforts have also been made by the transport management offices in Sano–Thulo Sawari, Bharatpur (Chitwan), and Hetauda for file management.
The Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Transport of Bagmati Province has stated that, in the first phase, data entry work will be completed at the offices in Sano–Thulo Sawari, Gurjudhara, Hetauda, and Bharatpur, after which teams will be deployed at the offices in Banepa and Khurkot. The Ministry is also organizing a program on February 18 to officially announce the commencement of the digitization process.
Vehicle owners are required to submit their original files to the transport office, and the responsibility for file management has been assigned to the heads of the respective offices, according to Ministry Information Officer Khagendra Paudel. For digitization, 50 desktop computers and 50 mobile phones have been provided. A dedicated space has been secured at the Integrated Data Management Center in Singha Durbar for storage, and backup data will be kept in Hetauda. About 65 terabytes of storage space has been allocated.
Vehicle owners will also need to provide their current mobile numbers and national ID numbers to the office. The Ministry plans to extract personal details from the national ID database, and biometric verification will be conducted based on this data. No separate biometric data collection will be necessary, the Ministry explained, as the system is being linked with the national ID system.
Online Vehicle Tax Payment
Currently, vehicle-related records that are stored on old and new paper-based files will be digitized, and once the process is complete, service users will no longer need to visit the transport office to pay vehicle taxes. “We are working on enabling vehicle registration, renewal, transfer of ownership, and other services through the online system,” Paudel said. “There will be no need to physically visit the office for Bluebook certification.”
The history of vehicle taxes and renewals will also be updated in the digital system. Paudel mentioned that due to the challenges of tracking when and where vehicle owners pay taxes in different provinces, the goal is to automate the system. The Ministry is preparing to offer online services through the Transport Management Information System mobile app.
“We are transitioning the Bluebook from its current paper-based system to a QR code-based system,” Paudel explained. “Just as the citizen app integrated driver’s licenses, we will also integrate the Bluebook into the app.” This will eliminate the hassle of carrying physical documents.
The Bagmati Province government aims to digitize between 500,000 to 1 million vehicle files within the next five to six months. During this period, the offices in Chitwan, Hetauda, and Khurkot will fully implement the online system, Paudel added. “Within a year, the services in Sano–Thulo Sawari will also be fully automated,” he said. “In two years, all transport offices in Bagmati Province, including Gurjudhara, will transition to an online system.”
The Ministry concludes that the provincial government is leading the way in making the transport service system more organized and technology-friendly with the cooperation of both the government and citizens. The Ministry has also called on citizens to assist in the effective implementation of the digitization plan.
