Finally, the Transport Department has got a permanent place outside the central business district of Mangaluru to conduct inspection of commercial vehicles.
The district administration allotted 1.19 acres of land between SKS Planet and KPT on NH 66 to the Transport Department recently for the purpose. The department has shifted inspection from its temporary venue, Bangra Kulur, to the new place.
Entry of hundreds of commercial vehicles into the premises of Senior Regional Transport Officer (RTO) near A.B. Shetty Circle for inspection and for getting fitness certificate had been clogging the roads in the heart of the city. The district administration had been cautioning the department to shift the it, but it was not happening for want of land.
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The district administration temporarily allotted about 2.5 acres of land at Bangra Kulur to the department and the inspection was shifted to the location in January this year. However, the land thereafter was permanently allotted to the Sports and Youth Empowerment Department forcing the RTO to scout for new land.
In-charge Senior RTO and Deputy Commissioner of Transport G.S. Hegde told The Hindu that the records of 1.19 acres of land had been transferred to the Transport Department’s name and the inspection was shifted to the new place from June 3.
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Now with the land in the Transport Department’s name, it would be easy for the department to provide certain basic amenities to the staff as well as the visitors, Mr. Hegde said.
His office would write to the headquarters seeking funds to provide shelter, rest rooms, drinking water and other amenities even as there are plans to protect the land with boundary walls.
Mr. Hegde said the new venue was closer to the city than the Bangra Kulur premises, particularly for autorickshaw drivers and operators who were finding it difficult to go all the way till Bangra Kulur.