CM visits transport authority office

Receives complaints from applicants present at the facility

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visits Burari Transport Authority on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday paid a surprise visit to the transport authority office in north Delhi’s Burari. While there, the CM received a barrage of complaints from applicants present at the facility.

Mr. Kejriwal, who was accompanied by Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot and Transport Commissioner Varsha Joshi, interacted with owners of autorickshaws and other commercial vehicles. Officers were instructed to decentralise work revolving around the services being offered at the facility and open vehicle fitness test centres across the Capital by next month.

“There were complaints that work here gets done quickly through touts, otherwise, it lingers for months. Fitness test centres will be opened across the city by next month. I have also sought a list of work done here and the services being offered and we will completely decentralise it,” Mr. Kejriwal told reporters.

He instructed officers to ensure that the Capital gets as many vehicle test centres as required by August 1. “If 5,000 vehicle fitness test centres are required to be opened in the city, they should be opened,” Mr. Kejriwal said.

Investigate grievances

Later, the CM, in a note to Ms. Joshi, issued directions to investigate complaints against Special Commissioner (Transport) K.K. Dahiya and the Motor Licensing Officer of the authority.

The Transport Commissioner was also directed to pay a surprise visit to one authority every week, “talk to at least 50 people standing in queue randomly, record their views and submit a weekly report to the CM”.

Meanwhile, learning about the difficulty faced by autorickshaw owners in purchasing and recharging SIM cards for GPS, the CM directed Transport Department officials to ensure that the service was made widely available.

“There is no need for long queues. Corrupt officers will be punished and the work done here will be decentralised,” he said. Mr. Kejriwal directed officers to give him a list, including the name and address of people who visited the Burari office in the last 10 days.

Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta questioned the move alleging that Mr. Kejriwal, having “miserably failed” during the last three-and-a-half years to rein in corruption and chaos at the Burari authority, had prescribed “treatment which is worst than the disease itself”.

“Having failed to control even one centre, it is beyond comprehension how the government will control 5,000 centres in such a short time,” Mr. Gupta said.