Agents barred from entering RTA offices

The Transport Department has barred the entry of agents at the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) offices in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. Based on several complaints from citizens on irregularities at Bahadurpura RTA,

the Transport Commissioner Sandeep Kumar Sultania along with B Venkateshwarulu, joint transport commis- sioner, vigilance and legal cell conducted surprise checks and found that staff had not reported to duty even by 11.30 am and agents had free access to office equipment.

This prompted a circular to all the RTA offices and since October 1 agents have been barred from entering the premises. Ahmed Khan, an agent at Uppal RTA said, “The RTA shut its doors from October 1. It is the only source of livelihood. This ban has come out of the blue and we were not told about it.”

The ban has come into effect af- ter a gap of three years. Previously, in 2000, the government had issued a GO 174 banning agents from entering RTA offices but, the authorities had failed in preventing the agents from its offices.

There have been Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) raids every now and then and for short periods the transport department banned the entry of agents but within no time they would make a comeback.

The lengthiest ban was for a period of three months at the Khairata bad RTA that was five years ago and after the intervention of politicians the ban was revoked. Speaking to the Hans India, RTA Joint Commissioner, Hyderabad said, “A helpdesk is established at the Khairatabad RTA. All the help is pro- vided to people.”

For the past one week, agents have been making the rounds of RTA offices but the security has been strict. There are about 2000 agents in Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts.

The number of transactions too has fallen ever since the agents were barred from entering RTA offices. G P N Prasad, RTO, Khairatabad s aid, “Before the ban the average number of transactions was between 400-700 per day but now it has come down to 200-250 per day.”

On Thursday, the Bahadurpura MLA Md Moazzam Khan visited the RTA office and advised officials to revoke the ban. The last time MP Assaduddin Owaisi had intervened and the ban was called off by the transport department. Sarwar, an agent at Uppal said, “Hundreds of agents would be affected and most of them are in the business for over 10 years.”