Corruption in
Public life has been a popular and recurring theme in many cinema ~ and many of
them show the licensing authority (RTO) and their brokers in poor light.
Indian
(Hindusthani in Hindi & Bharatheeyudu in Telegu) released in 1996 was a
fascinating movie directed by Shankar.
Kamal Hassan did dual roles on
the story dealing with corruption and apathy of officials. One side of the
track was Senapathy, a meticulous old man who kills top
Government officials in an extreme attempt to weed out corruption. His son (played by Kamal again) Chandru is a
small-time broker aspiring to become an official – he arranges issuance of FC
for a vehicle in poor condition which is later involved in an accident killing
many school children. Senapathy set to
avenge and correct the corrupt society goes on a spree killing corrupt
officials and tries to kill his son Chandru too !
A few
months back, I had a pleasant experience
at the RTO office at Mandaveli when I had my driving licence renewed – it was
so quick and simple process. Here is an article in Mail Online titled
‘Bribes, corruption and touts: Safety of Delhi's roads compromised by black
market for trade vehicle certificates ’ - that mounts scathing attack on rampant corruption. It starts with a strong assail – ‘Commercial
vehicles in Delhi don’t need technicians to stay fit, but touts’ and goes on
stating that at Regional Transport Office in Burari money can buy the services
of touts who can provide fitness certificates for commercial vehicles in the
Capital.
A Mail Today
investigation at the RTO in Burari has once again exposed the corrupt system in
place at the RTO, as a result of which no one can get a fitness certificate for
his commercial vehicle unless palms are greased. Burari is the only centre with
an inspection unit for all kinds of commercial vehicles in the Capital. The touts, who roam around freely in and
around the RTO precinct, act as the link between an applicant for a fitness
certificate and the officials at the transport authority office.
This Mail Today
journalist pretended to be a transporter and spoke with the touts, officials
and several transporters and found that whether it is for a fitness certificate
or any other certificate needed by a commercial vehicle, one has to go to these
touts. It cites a city-based transporter owning several trucks and tempos. He keeps visiting
the Burari office to get his vehicles’ certificates. But he never goes to the
counters. He prefers to spend a few thousand of rupees extra to get all the
documents through the touts. He said even though he tried once, he didn’t
succeed in getting the fitness certificates without paying a bribe.
That person is
quoted as saying - “There are 10 parameters. Officials will make you visit the
office again and again for some reason. Who wants this? It is better that you
just pay some extra money and get it done in a few hours’ – more damaging is
the statement that even if the vehicle is not completely fit to run on city
roads, a fitness certificate will be issued within a few hours; one can get away with the speed governor which is
mandatory for some commercial vehicles in Delhi. About 29 lakh vehicles in
Delhi are over 15 years old, and they may not be issued registration
certificates again after the National Green Tribunal’s recent order, because
they add to rising pollution levels. The
commercial vehicles are rendered unfit
in just about three to four years because of heavy duty use; and they need a
fitness certificate every year.
The post states
that the fitness certificate certified by authorities does not guarantee that
the vehicle is actually fit. The journalist told the tout that he has a vehicle
which is in poor condition, that its body vibrates and the brake doesn’t work
properly. The tout said: “No issues. The truck should only look good and the
body should be painted. “Nobody will check these technical things once you come
to us.
Certainly
not happy to read the situation explained as prevalent in RTOs…
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
8th Dec
2014.
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