Tuesday, September 07, 2010

An RTO that takes you for a ride

An RTO that takes you for a ride


Y Maheswara Reddy | ENS First Published : 06 Sep 2010 11:51:00 AM IST
BANGALORE: The Road Transport Office in Jayanagar Shopping Complex is
enough to know about the apathy of the authorities towards the hundreds
of people who come here everyday.
People are forced to wait for more than 20 minutes, in queue, to reach the fourth floor of the complex, where the RTO office is located. On reaching the office, they are hounded by middlemen who offer their services for a sum. They make it clear that without their help, they would be stranded in the office
for hours.
Besides, the RTO office is not spacious enough to accommodate the hundreds of visitors who come here daily.
“We are looking for a spacious premises to shift this office. We
have already shortlisted three premises. A decision will be taken to shift this office shortly,” said L Lingaraju, Road Transport Officer, Jayanagar.
Visitors also complain that the employees of the RTO keep the toilets locked, to avoid public use, thereby, forcing them to use the public toilet located on the ground floor.
“There is no sufficient water supply to the toilets. Hence, it is
difficult to allow visitors to use the toilets. The authorities concerned
are yet to take measures to improve the water supply here,” said an
RTO official.
The shortage of manpower at the RTO is adding to the never-ending wait for the common man. Recently, two assistant road transport officers - one superintendent and three clerks - were suspended for issuing driving licence to a person who provided Minister for Transport R Ashok’s residential address
as his residential address and these posts were yet to be filled.
“The shortage of manpower comes in the way of clearing the backlog of applications for permanent driving licence. We need six more employees to cater to the needs of applicants,” said Shastri, Superintendent.
However, denying the allegations on the delay in issuing driving licence, Shivakumar Aradhya, Assistant Road Transport Officer said, efforts were being made to clear the pending applications. “As of now, the driving licences are being dispatched to applicants within seven days. Earlier, the waiting period
was 15 days, due to the shortage of manpower,” he said.
Meanwhile, the much-hyped driving simulator on the seventh floor has been out of order for the last few days. Speaking to Express, Lingaraju
said, “We have already informed the service engineer about the defunct simulator. He has to come from Hyderabad.”

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