Driving licence delayed? RTOs facing staff crunch

See long queues outside the three regional transport offices (RTOs) at Andheri, Wadala and Tardeo. The three RTOs are falling short of around 175 employees. SHASHANK RAO reports.

See long queues outside the three regional transport offices (RTOs) at Andheri, Wadala and Tardeo. The three RTOs are falling short of around 175 employees who, otherwise, could have quickened the pace of work in giving licences, issuing permits to vehicles and clearing other transport-related problems. The Andheri (West) RTO that covers areas from Bandra to Dahisar is falling short of 82 employees in various departments.

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Also facing a staff crunch is the Tardeo RTO, which caters to the around 10 lakh people living in the island city, with 52 vacancies to be filled. The Wadala RTO, which covers the eastern suburbs of Mumbai, needs to fill up 40 posts.

The numbers do not seem big, but the vacant chairs at the three RTOs are surely causing problems. “As there are not many employees seated at the windows of a RTO, people have to approach agents to get their work done,” said Manjit Singh, a resident of Chembur who had returned from the Wadala RTO disappointed.

“People keep blaming us for not completing work on time or being slow, but the fact is that many posts are still vacant. Moreover, there are also employees retiring, which adds to our problems,” said an official from RTO, on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to talk to the media. Autorickshaw and taxi drivers and their unions too have been inconvenienced and want the posts to be filled up as soon as possible.