THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With driving school instructors continuing their protest for the fifth straight day, applicants are largely staying away from scheduled ground tests for obtaining a driving licence. Though the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) decided to carry out the tests with the support of police, they could only conduct them at two out of the 86 centres on Tuesday. Less than 30 tests were held in Pathanamthitta and Tiruvalla. As per the new order, each centre can conduct 40 tests. “While the applicants were ready to give the test in the initial days of the protest, the numbers have come down significantly,” said an officer.
Meanwhile, the driving school operators said the tests in Pathanamthitta and Tiruvalla were conducted with the support of the All Kerala Driving School Owners and Workers Union (CITU), which has stayed away from the protest. “The chances of conducting tests are limited because there are only a few members in the union affiliated with CITU. And many of them are not happy with the neutral stand that the union took,” said Nazar Usman, general secretary of Motor Driving Owners Koottayma, which is among the associations that challenged the reforms in the driving test.
A joint committee of various driving school owners’ associations, including those associated with AITUC and BMS, decided to launch a protest in front of the Secretariat on May 13. A member of the All Kerala Motor Driving School Instructors and Workers Association expressed concern that the issue would not be resolved until the chief minister returned from his tour on May 21.