NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Nearly 40 out of the 95 Regional Transport Office (RTO) inspectors have failed to achieve the monthly target of issuing ‘challans’ to traffic rule violators and will now have to work in more night shifts and also at weekends without compensatory off so as to meet the challan target.
Taking serious note of the underachieved targets, the transport department has asked the assistant motor vehicle inspectors and motor vehicle inspectors to complete the failed targets along with penalty target at any cost. The department has also asked them to submit a performance report every week to the head office.
According to the order, which is in place since September 29, the executive staff of the registering and enforcement cell who have not achieved the targets between April and June have been asked to perform enforcement duties on Saturdays and Sundays in rotation from 1 pm to 9 pm till the backlog of targets including additional penalty targets, which is double the backlog, are achieved. They have also been asked to drive the vehicle provided if the driver remains unavailable.
The officials have been directed to focus on illegal clandestine operations, checking of rent a cab and rent a bike, high-end cars registered outside state, checking of taxes paid, insurance, PUC certificate, overloading, carrying excess luggage, checking of interstate goods and passenger vehicles, talking on mobile phones while driving, jumping red light and other serious motor vehicle violations.
Around 40 RTO inspectors have missed the target of 17,000 in challaning traffic violators between
April and June and achieved only 65 per cent of the given target.
The department has divided them in ten groups headed by motor vehicle inspectors and asked them to not only reach regular monthly targets but also achieve revised backlog targets without any compensatory off, which officials say, is very unlikely and difficult to accomplish.
The department has instructed the deputy directors of North and South districts to undertake surprise inspections of the teams to ensure that all teams are randomly checked.
Since June last year, the transport department started a target-oriented approach to check atleast 8,000 vehicles through a drive every month and gave a target of checking over 300 vehicles daily to the enforcement cell as well as registration authority of both the districts.
Meanwhile, the RTO officials, who are upset with the target-oriented approach, have expressed their anguish over withdrawal of their compensatory off in lieu of working at weekends to achieve the failed targets.
According to RTO officials, penalty or fine is not a source of revenue and target-oriented approach of the department has not only affected their personal life but has also become a reason of harassment to the people.
A senior RTO official said that they are being harassed by the department by asking them to achieve individual target without making any provision for additional vehicles for inspectors to move around the spots to accomplish the given target. We have been divided in groups of 4-5 inspectors with one vehicle but reaching the target in groups becomes difficult.
He said they are not even spared during their leave period and that the department expects them to achieve the given target even if they have proceeded on leave. He said that the fear of target has prevented them from focussing on other administrative work and attending to public grievances.
The official said that apart from issuing driving licences, they also shoulder responsibilities alongside the traffic police and have to attend to complaints, conduct verification of necessary papers like the national permit, collect vehicle tax, road tax and fines in case of excessive luggage, conduct fitness test and check technical defects in vehicles like speedometer and reflectors.
“We have been deployed at various spots with a ‘predetermined quota’ of challans to file per day and hence our attention remains on just meeting our targets leaving behind other administrative work and attending to public grievances. We will soon ask the transport director to review the decision and reduce the target and allow us the compensatory off,” the official said.
The RTO official also said that using the hand-held machines to book road rule violators will complicate matters for the motor vehicle inspectors in achieving the target of checking vehicles for various offences, as the machines are time-consuming and take nearly 20 minutes to complete the e-challan process.