Maharashtra: No in-charge officials for ten out of 15 RTOs

As many as ten out of the 15 Regional Transport Offices RTOs in Maharashtra are currently without incharge officers a situation one former official described as alarming reported news agency PTIFurther out of 35 deputy RTOs eleven are without incharge officersIn many places junior officers have been given additional charge of these vacant posts state Transport Department sources told PTIRTOs and deputy RTOs come under the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Department MMVD which is controlled by the Transport Commissioners officeThousands of people visit the 50 Regional Transport Offices in Maharashtra every day for work related to vehicle registration driving licenses and vehicle permits among other thingsAlso Read 524 buildings declared dangerous in Navi Mumbai says NMMCThe absence of incharge officers is causing delays resulting in significant inconvenience for the public and also encouraging corruption sources told PTINotably the transport portfolio has been with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for the last ten monthsThe posts of Regional Transport Officer also abbreviated as RTO are vacant at Andheri Mumbai West Wadala Mumbai East Panvel Kolhapur Nashik Dhule Aurangabad Nagpur Rural Nagpur City and LaturThe offices at Tardeo Mumbai Central Thane Pune Amravati and Nanded have fulltime incharge officersWhere there are vacancies deputy RTOs are holding additional charge of the RTO post at the same office or at the nearest regional office in the same cityIn Aurangabad Nagpur Rural and Latur the additional charge has been given to junior officers posted at Jalna Gadchiroli and Osmanabad deputy RTO offices respectivelySimilarly at 11 of the 35 deputy RTO offices there are no fulltime incharge officials Hence additional charge has been given to othersIn deputy RTO offices like Kalyan Sindhudurg Beed Wardha Hingoli and Baramati the additional charge has been given to junior officers of the assistant regional transport officer rank sources saidOne can understand giving additional charge of a post to someone in the same office or same city but in many cases the additional charge has been given to officers in other districts posted 100 to 150 km away one official told PTICan an officer do justice to both the posts if the distance is 100150 km he asked speaking on the condition of anonymityEven at the Transport Commissioners office joint transport commissioner Jitendra Patil is holding additional charge of three posts additional transport commissioner joint transport commissioner road safety and deputy transport commissioner encroachmentIIHis office has five posts of deputy transport commissioners and presently only one of them is filledAdditional charge of three posts has been given to officers much junior in rank sources said Patil himself is holding the charge of another postA retired officer from the Transport Commissioners office who did not wish to be named said the MMVD used to have 10 to 15 percent vacancies earlier but the situation has become alarming now as additional charge of almost 5060 per cent top posts has been given to junior officersThe reason for vacancies was delayed promotions and now things are so bad that posts of additional transport commissioner joint transport commissioner and deputy transport commissioner cannot be filled without giving additional charge to existing officers or changing the rules he saidThe vacancies at the top level has led to increased pendency of work besides encouraging corruption and allowing agents a free rein said another officialA deputy RTO who is holding additional charge of another senior post for several years told PTI as per the rules an additional charge can be assigned for a maximum of six months but in his department he as well as many of his colleagues are holding such charge for yearsBeyond six months officers do not receive the stipulated additional 10 per cent pay for taking additional responsibilities he saidThe MMVD has over 4100 posts and the government has approved the creation of more than 440 new posts including five posts of joint transport commissionerBut another retired officer told PTI that the government seems to be unable to fill up the existing postsIf regional transport offices can function with some officials handling additional charge why does the department want to create more posts It should abolish vacant posts he saidWhen contacted for comment transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar said the issue is related to the state government and the necessary process is going on at the government levelTransport secretary Parag JainNainutia told PTI that a meeting has been called on Thursday to discuss the issue and also the transport commissioner has been asked to take some steps at his level to address the situationWith inputs from PTI