The drive to change number plates in the province of Sindh has come to a halt as on the request of an important figure in the government of Sindh the deadline for changing your number plates has been extended by a few months.
The poor motorcycle owners must have heaved a sigh of relief because they were the most affected having to buy this number plate at a cost they could ill afford.
As it is they are constantly hounded for non-use of helmets by them, which again is a costly affair for the lower middle classes. I have always wondered why the provincial government does not set up fair price shops where those that cannot afford to buy helmets can get them at reasonable price.
This will while providing relief to the affected people can also provide employment to some of the unemployed. It is all the more necessary as the fair price shops in the province known as utility stores have been shut down making a large number of people unemployed. We all know that distributing lap tops has always been a favourite hobby of those in power.
How about switching to helmets for a change so that the poor can save themselves from frequent stoppage by the traffic police and also save on traffic fines and sometimes indeed their lives?
The latest pursuit of the traffic police was to stop vehicles that did not change to the new number plates with the Ajrak background. While this campaign has been halted it must be said that while this campaign was going it was carried out with great administrative ability and for the first time we could see real service to the people. In a new office recently opened in Clifton the arrangements were very impressive.
For most people it did not take more than half-an-hour to get the paper work done and receive the challan for money to be deposited in any nearby bank.
The wait would then start for a phone call which to tell you the truth most people did not receive and one had to go back to the main office to inquire about their new number plates. My friend on his third trip to the office was finally informed that his number plates had arrived but then the ordeal began.
He was asked to produce the original file of the vehicle in question while he had only brought his book as initial steps were all done through that book.
Anyway, he ran back home and brought the original file happy and excited that now he will receive the brand new the beautiful Ajrak number plate but as they say there are many a slip between the cup and the lip. “Where are the old number plates,” asked the man behind the counter. “On the car obviously,” my friend informed the officer asking all these questions .Well the officer refused to give him the new number plates unless he somehow brought the old number plate to the office. Mind you that like many other cars my friend’s car was old and a bit rusted.
Quite a Herculean task in which fortunately another person with a Vigo helped and provided the tools to remove the old number plate. This actually raises several questions.
Why people are not informed through an advertisement campaign in advance of the conditionality required to obtain your number plate or the office should have mechanics standing by to help citizens remove their number plates.
Better still the mechanics should be hired by the office and standing by to take off your number plate as soon as you get the new one.
The mechanic can charge for installing the new number plate from the owner of the vehicle concerned and save him from looking around for help.
A question that comes to my mind is what happens to thousands of number plates mostly in good shape and made of good metal collected during this campaign. Why the owner should not get some compensation for what is after all his or her property? A valid question that begs an answer.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The writer is a well-known columnist
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