20 June 2023 01:33 pm Views - 7833
The Motor Traffic Department (DMT) has decided to extend the validity period of driving licenses for two years.
DMT Commissioner General Nishantha Anuruddha Weerasingha told the Daily Mirror that the process of extending the validity period for driving licenses was initiated last week.
He said the decision was taken considering the difficulties faced by people when renewing their expired driving licenses.
The gazette notification related to extending the validity period would be issued by this week, the commissioner general said.
The temporary driving licenses were issued with a security code and a validity period of one year due to the shortage of printing cards.
"People face many difficulties when renewing their temporary licenses which have expired. So the department has decided to extend the validity period for two years, including the new prints," he said.
The printing of cards for driving licenses is still underway. The department is in arrears on printing 800,000 driving license cards. Card printing is in the process, with nearly 4,000 cards printed daily.
Nearly 500 to 600 driving license cards were printed to facilitate the one-day service, and the remaining cards were printed afterwards. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)