By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

The printing of driving licenses, which had been carried out by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) following a directive of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, will be taken over by the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) from September onwards, the Daily Mirror learns.   

The printing of driving licenses, which was under the jurisdiction of the DMT, was transferred to the SLA following a Cabinet decision taken in June 2020. Thus, the task was entrusted with the SLA with effect from January 2021.    DMT Commissioner General Nishantha Anuruddha Weerasinghe told the Daily Mirror yesterday preparations are underway to take over the task from the SLA from September 1, 2023, as the department is now armed with the necessary manpower and resources.    He said the department has already started issuing licenses printed on the usual plastic card almost after one year, since the prevailing dollar crunch in the country prevented importing such cards. From the beginning of 2022 the department issued temporary driving licenses printed on white paper with a hologram security sticker pasted on it.    

The department is prioritizing clearing a backlog of 800, 000 such temporary licenses issued to the public with white paper and issuing them with the usual plastic card.   “Currently we are receiving about 1,500 to 2,000 driving license applications per day and the department has a capacity to print 4,000 cards per day. Out of this 3, 000 to 3,500 cards are printed everyday to clear the backlog, whilst a limited 500 cards are printed daily for urgent cases like those who migrate for foreign employment, etc.,” the Commissioner General said.   

Before 2020, the DMT had a contract with a South African company for about 11 years to print and issue the driving license. The transfer of printing the license to the SLA had been done following a directive made by the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.