International driving licence: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will facilitate the issuance of International Driving Permit (IDP) for Indian citizens whose IDP has expired while they are abroad.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Sunday informed that there was no mechanism for its renewal while citizens were abroad and their IDP had expired.
A draft notification has been issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in this regard.
“The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a draft notification…seeking comments and suggestions for the amendment to Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 for facilitating the issuance of International Driving licence for citizens whose IDP(International Driving Permit) has expired while they are abroad,” MoRTH said in a statement.
It said that it has come to its notice that in certain cases for the citizens who are travelling abroad and in a foreign country, the IDP gets expired and there is no mechanism for its renewal while abroad. “The proposal is to amend the CMVR 1989 to facilitate such citizens. The citizens can apply for Internation driving licence through the Indian Embassy / Mission Abroad portals and the applications would then move to the VAHAN for being considered by the respective RTOs (regional transport offices),” the statement said. The proposal also includes removal of the conditions of a medical certificate and a valid visa at the time of making the request for the IDP in the country.
“Further, there are certain countries where the visa is on arrival and in such cases, the visa was not available when applying for the IDP in India before travel,” the statement said.
It said that citizens and stakeholders can send their comments and suggestions to the joint secretary (MVL, IT & Toll), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways within 30 days.
Mean-while, India added 16,311 new cases to its COVID-19 tally in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday.
With 19,299 more discharges, the cumulative recoveries reached 1,00,92,909.
As many as 161 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,51,160.
The total number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 1,04,66,595 including 2,22,526 active cases.
At present, there are 64,516 active coronavirus cases in Kerala, the highest in the country. Maharashtra follows with 54,129 active infections.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 18,17,55,831 samples were tested for COVID-19 up to January 10 including 6,59,209 samples tested yesterday.
The Union Health Ministry informed that India’s coronavirus fatality rate dropped to 1.44 per cent on Sunday while the recovery rate has improved to 96.42 per cent.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday interact with Chief Ministers of all states via video conferencing to discuss the COVID-19 situation and coronavirus vaccination rollout.
