Manpower shortage hits Road Transport Authority offices

Nellore: Public are up in arms against the transport department for the delays in their services. People are restless after standing in queues for long durations and arguments between public and officials has become a daily routine not only in Nellore but also in the Road Transport Authority offices in Kavali, Atmakur, Gudur and Sullurpeta.

For instance, in the RTA office at Nellore, one has to wait for not less than half an hour, sometimes over an hour in the queue  during peak hours when there is heavy rush. The office issues 124 learner licences, 120 driving licences and 150 registrations on an average per day apart from fitness certificates among 80 other services and the available manpower is no match to the people turning up to the office.

A bank official Lakshminarayana alleg-ed that he was forced to wait in the queue for one hour to pay fee for registration of his motorcycle and another one and half hours for a number plate. A farmer R. Subba Reddy said that he had been waiting from morning 10 am to 1 pm for transferring the registration of his vehicle. While thanking the officials for establishing a help desk to prevent the role of middlemen, he said that he had to wait there also because only two people are manning the desk when more than 50 are waiting.

A woman, Sirisha opined that the officials arrange a separate queue line for women instead of mingling everyone in the same line. Incidentally, the deputy commissioner of transport N. Sivaram Prasad and RTO N. Poornachandra Rao closely monitor all the counters during peak hours to avoid any inconvenience to the public but their efforts are hit by lack of manpower.

According to information as many as 33 posts have been lying vacant in the RTA offices in the district since a long time. The vacant posts pertain to key posts such as two motor vehicle inspectors, seven assistant motor vehicle inspectors, one administrative officer, three senior assistants, one junior assistant, and 13 transport constables among few others.

The RTA officials believe that the situation will ease after their plan to make 83 services online within next two months. However, this move is likely to create problems for the uneducated and help net centres to flourish. “Most of the transport operators have to depend on the Internet centre operators to get their work done through online since they knew nothing about computers. We will not be in a position to help them as the very purpose of online services is to prevent interference of the officials,” a transport official said.