Dhanbad’s district transport department, on orders from Jharkhand Transport Commissioner Kiran Pasi, has from Tuesday begun preparations to restart work on issuing and renewing driving licenses after a gap of more than two months.

The work was suspended all across the state, including Dhanbad, from April 16 due to aggravated Covid conditions.

Around 2,500 applications are pending with the Dhanbad District Transport Office due the suspension. Majority of these applications belonged to driving license renewal work.

Confirming the development, District Transport officer of Dhanbad Om Prakash Yadav said, “We will restart the licence work from tomorrow (Wednesday) and necessary preparations in this regard have already been launched from today (Tuesday).”

“As we are already short-staffed at the district transport office, all staff will work as we can easily follow the social distancing norms with the limited staff presence,” said Yadav.

All necessary Covid protocols, including adhering to social distance norms, regular sanitisation of hands and driving license trial grounds have to be carried out.

As per the detailed instructions issued by Pasi,slot booking for the license seekers is to be carried out daily, based on the capacity of the driving license trail ground.

Triveni Sao, an applicant for driving license, said, “I had applied for my driving license four months ago but due to the suspension I faced a lot of problem”

“I went to the district transport office today to come to know that the issuance work will resume from tomorrow and I am happy I will be able to drive my car without any fear of being caught by the police,” he added.

Echoing sentiments Gopal Singh, a resident of Hirapur, seeking renewal of his license since the last three months, said, “I am waiting for the renewal of license which is set to expire by the end of July and was worried due to suspension. Now, I am feeling a bit relaxed after coming to know that license renewal work will resume from tomorrow.”