Staff crunch and lack of requisite infrastructure such as automated driving test track as well as modern vehicle fitness testing facility at the office of the Road Transport Authority (RTA) here are proving to be stumbling blocks in the timely delivery of services.
The RTA office, entrusted with crucial multiple tasks including issuance of driving licences and vehicle fitness certificates, collection of vehicle taxes and registration of new vehicles, continues to remain understaffed and under-equipped.
The office is grappling with severe shortage of the Motor Vehicle Inspectors (MVIs) and Assistant MVIs.
As against the sanctioned strength of 10 MVIs, only four MVIs are presently working at the RTA office here. Of the total 15 sanctioned AMVI posts, only seven AMVIs are currently on rolls.
New check posts
Two new check posts have been set up, one in Aswaraopeta mandal and another in Kallur mandal bordering Andhra Pradesh, in the aftermath of the formation of separate Telangana State last year.
Additional personnel of the Transport Department from other districts were taken on deputation to man the new check posts. In the absence of the requisite infrastructure facilities, the personnel concerned at the RTA office are constrained to conduct the driving and vehicle fitness tests manually in a time consuming manner.
The long felt need for automated driving track and vehicle fitness testing centre at the RTA office remained unfulfilled till date, deplores Surender, a four-wheeler owner of Mamillagudem.
It is imperative to introduce the modern testing facilities to ensure scientific assessment of the driving skills of the licence seekers and evaluation of the fitness of the vehicles without any manual interference in a hassle free and transparent manner, he suggests.
Some transport department employees from other districts were deputed at the new check posts by the government in view of staff shortage, says Mohd Mohaimin, Regional Transport Officer, Khammam.
Proposals for filling the vacant posts of MVIs and AMVIs besides upgrading the infrastructure facilities at the RTA office here have already been forwarded to the government for its perusal.
