Thiruvananthapuram. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has ordered a halt on the driving test reforms. The chief minister ordered halting the implementation of the reforms after a meeting with CITU state general secretary Elamaram Karim, and president of the Driving School Workers Union (CITU) KK Divakaran.
He directed the Transport Department to make a final decision after holding talks with driving school owners post the Lok Sabha polls.
The reforms, initiated by the Minister of Transport KB Ganesh Kumar, ran into rough weather after he capped the number of tests to be held by each office at 50. Though it was initially ordered to be implemented from May 1, the minister, in a March 7 meeting, directed the officials to roll it out from the next day itself.
Those who were already allotted dates protested against the order, forcing the government to withdraw it the next day.
However, the ceiling of 50 tests was set in the computer software in all offices. The government also issued an order, directing the Road Transport Offices across the state to implement the ceiling from May 1.
The Department of Transport also decided to launch 22 driving schools under the KSRTC to rein in the private schools.
