Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The ongoing strike by RTO officials has badly hit transporters and vehicle dealers as all new and renewal of registrations and fitness of vehicles have come to a standstill. Those who had applied for driving licences are also stuck. Transporters are complaining that their vehicles are lying idle as their registration\fitness has expired and has not been renewed by the department. For the vehicle dealers, the new vehicles sold by them are also not getting registered.
Meanwhile, Indore Truck Operators and Transport Association (ITOTA) dashed off a letter to the transport minister asking him to intervene in the matter. “RTO officials have been on strike for the last four days and it is affecting our work as our applications got stuck due to the sudden strike by RTO officials across the state,” president of ITOTA CL Mukati said.
No work on registration, permit, and fitness was done in the last four days as no official reached RTO Indore due to the strike. People who had come to RTO for their work had to return home empty-handed.
The agitating officials said, “We have been pressing for our demands for a long time but to no avail. We have submitted memorandums to the government on multiple forums but no action has been taken yet. Last time, we got an assurance that our demands would be fulfilled in 15 days but no action was taken. So, now, we have been forced to go on strike.” The strike affected the work in RTO as about 500 new vehicles were registered every day and about 400 old vehicle registrations were renewed. The work of over 600 driving licence applications and around 100 fitness applications are also getting stuck daily.
Meeting with TC today
According to RTO officials, the transport commissioner has called the RTO officials association for talks on Friday. “We will present our long pending demands and will end the strike only when they are met,” the official said.
Demands
- removing salary discrepancy
- cadre review
- implementing a promotion system
- no deputation from other departments
- enforcement staff at district level
- not holding RTO responsible for bus accidents
- not involving RTO in other departmental works
