Driving licence scam in Punjab: Expert suggests tech way out
Former vice-chairman of the Punjab transport department says Harnessing AutoMobiles for Safety (HAMS) system should be implemented immediately and private firm staff accused of tampering with video evidence must be taken to task.
With Punjab’s driver licensing system under cloud, road safety expert Kamal Soi has called for introducing the HAMS technology, an artificial intelligence (AI) based automated competency test, at the earliest besides suspending employees accused of tampering with video evidence.
Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh on Wednesday, the former vice-chairman of the Punjab transport department said: “Trust in the regional and state transport authorities has been eroded after the scam under which untrained drivers were issued licences in exchange for bribes.”
On April 7, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau had raided regional transport authority offices and 32 driving test centres in the state. The crackdown led to the arrest of 24 government officials and private agents involved in taking bribes to issue driving licences. Sixteen cases were registered based on complaints and tip-offs.
Soi said the HAMS (Harnessing AutoMobiles for Safety) system must be implemented immediately for conducting driving competency tests. The technology includes iris scanning, which will ensure that no one is substituting for actual driving test applicants. The technology is also effective in assessing the driving skills of applicants.
He said reinstated Smartchip employees, who have been accused of tampering with video evidence besides other serious allegations, should be placed under suspension and prosecuted for the irregularities.
Raising questions on the working of the firm, which was awarded the contract for all 32 automated driving test tracks in Punjab, Soi said it is accused of tampering video evidence by reusing old test footage, running tests using proxies, and operating vehicles repeatedly for multiple fake applicants.
Though the contract to the company was recently withdrawn, its employees were retained by the transport department and given the same responsibility of conducting driving licence tests. “This is effectively allowing the same ecosystem of malpractice to continue unpunished,” he added.
