The Commissioner General of Motor Traffic has introduced a WhatsApp number — 074 245 3300 — for the public to submit complaints about motor vehicle registration and other vehicle-related problems, the Daily Mirror and NewsFirst both reported on Saturday.
The stated aim is to give the public a more convenient channel for reporting issues encountered during vehicle registration and inconveniences caused by vehicles.
Messages only — do not call
NewsFirst carries two details the Daily Mirror does not.
The service has been launched under the theme “Tell the Commissioner General of Motor Traffic.”
And the Department of Motor Traffic has asked the public to send only messages to the number — not to call it. That is the practical instruction a user most needs, and it appears in only one of the two filings.
What the line covers
Both outlets describe the same two categories:
- problems encountered during motor vehicle registration
- inconveniences caused by vehicles
The second category is the looser of the two. Neither outlet defines it, and it could plausibly cover anything from unroadworthy vehicles to obstruction or nuisance complaints. Whether it extends to on-road traffic offences — which are a police matter rather than a Department of Motor Traffic one — is not addressed.
Part of a broader move to messaging channels
The Department is not the first Sri Lankan authority to route public complaints through WhatsApp. The approach has been used for targeted enforcement drives, including a crackdown on smoke-emitting vehicles in which the public was asked to send evidence directly.
This line is broader than those: it is a general-purpose complaints channel for the Department’s own core function, vehicle registration, rather than a campaign-specific tip line.
It arrives alongside other moves to shift government services onto digital channels, including online railway ticketing through the Pravesha system and a digital motor insurance card verification system.
Not reported
Neither outlet says when the line went live, what hours it is monitored, or how quickly complainants can expect a response. Neither says whether complaints can be submitted in Sinhala and Tamil as well as English.
Neither reports what happens to a complaint once received — which unit handles it, whether the sender gets a reference number, or whether there is any escalation path if nothing follows. There is no indication whether the WhatsApp line replaces or supplements the Department’s existing complaint channels, and no telephone hotline or email address is given as an alternative for people who do not use WhatsApp.
Neither outlet names the current Commissioner General of Motor Traffic.
