The online application for new driving licences has been suspended since the Department of Transport Management was set on fire on September 9 during the Gen Z protests.

The department estimates that about 18,000 of 22,000 printed licences were destroyed, with only 3,000 recovered intact.

Director Keshav Khatiwada said the exact number of licences destroyed cannot be confirmed until the system is restored. “We currently estimate 18,000 licences were burnt or lost. Accurate data will be available once the system is operational,” he said.

Licences prepared for dispatch to various transport offices were also destroyed in the fire. The department had been printing licences through an expedited process for those travelling abroad.

“For applicants travelling abroad, licences were printed within 24 hours of application,” Khatiwada said. “For others, licences for 2.5 million service seekers were printed as needed.”

Both services are currently suspended. The department is also considering how to complete printing pending old licences, with some solutions expected after Tihar.

Khatiwada said preparations are underway to resume licence applications. “We are requesting necessary devices and equipment from various ministries and offices. The department’s data centre was also destroyed in the fire. Restarting the system will require Rs40-50 million,” he said. “Even after completing all procedures, it will take four to five months to fully operate the system. The procurement process for the new system is ongoing, but we are starting it now to provide services.”

With the system offline, licence-related work at all 42 transport offices is currently halted. “If no technical issues arise, we plan to resume services after Tihar [October last week],” Khatiwada said. “As we seek cooperation from various offices to restart the system, the process may be slower. If necessary, applications will be scheduled by province.”

He said that once the procurement process is complete and the system is operational, services will fully resume.

Khatiwada also said it remains unclear whether burnt or lost licences will be reprinted free of charge. “This is still under discussion, and no decision has been made,” he said. “Once the burnt or lost licences are verified and documented, the information will be sent to provincial offices for further decisions.”

Director General Rajiv Pokharel said the department is preparing a system to accept new licence applications. “The first task is to get the system running to open applications for licences,” he said. “The embossed number plates suffered even greater damage; the prepared plates were destroyed. We are discussing this with suppliers, but no decisions have been made yet.”

Previously, daily applications for new licences across all seven provinces ranged from 6,000 to 7,000. Of these, 4,000 to 5,000 applicants passed the trial tests. At the department, up to 300 people applied online daily and 200 submitted written applications for emergency licences.

During the protests, all embossed number plates prepared for dispatch to provinces and transport offices were destroyed in the fire. By mid-July, the department had produced 819,059 plates, of which only around 200,000 had been dispatched. The remaining plates, stored at the department and being prepared for dispatch, were destroyed in the fire.

According to the department’s current estimate, 619,000 number plates were destroyed in the fire. By mid-July, production included 632,141 plates for two-wheelers, 164,191 for four-wheelers, 14,582 for heavy vehicles, and 8,145 for three-wheelers.