Mumbai, Jun 29 (PTI) The Maharashtra government's decision to start 10 new Deputy Regional Transport Offices in the past two years has come in for criticism from some quarters over the need and timing of the expansion, especially at a time when 77 per of services are available online.
They also cited a Government Resolution, issued on June 18, 2018, which explicitly states that no new RTO office should be established unless a district is bifurcated. The GR had specified that vehicle testing centres or camp offices could be set up instead of creating new RTOs in larger districts.
Before this GR, the state had 24 RTOs and 36 deputy RTOs, with the last one coming up in 2011 in Karad, the home turf of then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.
From May 2023, the state has seen deputy RTOs being set up at Ichalkaranji (MH 51), Chalisgaon (MH 52), Phaltan (MH 53), Bhadgaon (MH 54), Udgir (MH 55), Khamgaon (MH 56), Vaijapur (MH 57), Mira Bhayandar (MH 58), Jat (MH 59) and Palghar (MH 60).
Defending the move, Transport Commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar told PTI that GRs serve as broad guidelines and asserted all changes are made with the approval of the chief minister. He, however, accepted new offices were created despite a manpower shortage.
The latest deputy RTO was set up in May this year in Palghar, which also has jurisdiction over the booming Mira-Bhayander area. Transport minister Pratap Sarnaik's assembly seat is part of the region. The number of RTOs in Thane region, a stronghold of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, now stands at four, while most others have such facilities in the range of two to three.
When contacted, minister Sarnaik said the decision is based on growing urban population and inconvenience faced by rural citizens, adding that the threshold being used for the purpose is a population of seven lakh.
"In rural areas, people travel 100-200 km to reach RTOs, spending hours. The goal is to ease their difficulty," he said.
While RTOs are coming up in small town in Chalisgaon and Bhadgaon, barely 25 kilometres apart, densely populated areas like Pune and Pimpri Chnchwad are getting left out, an official said on condition of anonymity while asserting these are "politically driven decisions".
Despite a manpower crunch and need for infrastructure like test grounds, these offices are coming up to "please local elected representatives" at high costs, a retired official claimed.
Critics also cited that 89 of 115 RTO services, or 77 per cent, have been made available online, including 58 that are completely faceless, which should have actually reduced the need for physical facilities.
Moreover, many services are also being outsourced, and a large-scale physical expansion may contradict the push for e-governance, they added.
Fitness testing is being outsourced to private inspection centres, and driving tests are shifting to Automated Driving Test Tracks, they pointed out.
"Initially, only private vehicles were registered through dealers, but now even small commercial vehicles like pickup trucks are registered without visiting RTO offices," an official cited.
However, another section of officials defended the move to create more RTOs by insisting that not all citizens have digital literacy.
Government records showed that only 3250 of the sanctioned 4146 posts are filled as on March this year, with vacancy rate of Class A and B category posts being 45.26 per cent and 47.01 per cent, respectively.
Despite the manpower crunch, creation of new facilities increases the number of personnel required, an official said citing the example of Jalgaon RTO, which now has six officers in place of two earlier. Similar trends are also seen in Latur-Udgir, Satara-Karad, Phaltan, Sangli-Jat and Buldhana-Khamgaon, he said.
Meanwhile, with demand for new RTOs coming up from several talukas, the state government has formed an internal committee of transport department officials to define new criteria for the process.
The first RTO in Maharashtra came up in Tardeo in 1939, while the first deputy RTO was created in Shrirampur in Ahilyanagar in 1979.