The process of issuing driving licences began on Friday, more than six months after it had been suspended because of a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

District transport officer of Dhanbad Om Prakash Yadav said only a limited number of applicants were being called for driving tests at Golf Ground and for paperwork and photography to maintain Covid protocols of social distancing.

More than 9,000 applications for licences are pending with the Dhanbad district transport office of which 6,258 applications are for renewals.

Md Faizan (20), a BTech (electrical engineering) student of K.K. College of Engineering who arrived at Golf Ground Dhanbad for a driving test, said, “I had applied for a licence last year. I have been facing a lot of difficulty without one.”

A girl undertaking a driving test on her two-wheeler in Dhanbad on Friday Gautam Dey

Md Eltas (24), another applicant for a learner’s license, who came for a driving test from Govindpur said, “I had applied for a learner’s licence on January 11 and was allotted a date for a driving test on April 11. But the closure of the office during lockdown delayed the entire process.”

Those who came to the DTO counter to submit documents had a similar experience to narrate. Sanjay Kumar Mandal (21), a Life Insurance Corporation of India agent, said, “We had applied for a learner’s license before the beginning of the lockdown. We could never imagine that it would get delayed for such a long period.”

Deepak Kumar Verma (25), a driver who uses his own car as a private taxi, said, “I wanted a licence for driving heavy vehicles in order to get a job as a truck driver in a transport company operating for BCCL. But I could not get the licence because of the lockdown. Thank God the process has finally begun.”