Karnataka - Bangalore

Very few go to new RTOs

BANGALORE: They were established three years ago to decongest the regional transport offices (RTOs) in the city as well as to offer easy access to public living away from the city. However, a comparison between old RTOs and new RTOs with regard to the number of vehicles registered indicate that the old RTOs continue to do the usual business while the new RTOs are grappling to survive.

This is despite the fact that vast geographical areas, including those in Bangalore Rural district were brought under the five new RTOs.

These RTOs — Jnanabharathi (KA 41), Electronics City (KA 51), Krishnarajapuram (KA 53), Yelahanka (KA 50) and Nelamangala (KA 52) — were established after dividing the jurisdiction of old offices in the city — Central (KA 01), East (KA 03), North (KA 04), West (KA 02) and South (KA 05).

The reasons were many, including location of automobile dealers and driving schools within the city, said a regional transport officer who declined to be identified. He alleged that automobile dealers misguided customers and got the vehicles registered in the nearest RTO, although the customer might officially come under the jurisdiction of another RTO.

This not only contravened Section 40 of the Motor Vehicles Act, but also at a later date would cause inconvenience to the registered owner. The registered owner would have to go all the way to the city RTO for any work related to his vehicle in a future date, though he stayed close to one of the newly established RTOs. Similar was the case with driving schools through which a driving licence (DL) seeker applies for licence. These schools preferred to get the DL issued at the nearest RTO irrespective of the residence of the candidate, said the officer.

Another officer said the idea behind setting up new RTOs was to decongest roads and to reduce workload. However as they continued to register vehicles that should have been registered in new RTOs and doing several other works, including issue of DLs and so on, old RTOs’ surroundings continued to remain choked with vehicles.

Places namely Jayanagar Shopping Complex (South), Koramangala BDA Complex (Central), Rajajinagar BBMP Complex (West), Indiranagar BDA Complex (East) and Yeshwanthpur BDA Complex (North), became more congested rather than getting decongested, he said.

He said if vehicle dealers found logistical problem to bring new vehicles to new RTOs for mandatory inspection before registration, the department could identify a common point in the city for the purpose. While dealers could bring in new vehicles to this location, each RTO could depute an inspector of motor vehicles for inspection for a few hours.

Transport Commissioner Bhaskar Rao told The Hindu that he did not come across contravention of any provisions although he had heard of the allegations. He had asked the officers to bring contraventions with proof to his notice so that he could take action.

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