Transport Minister Perni Venkataramaiah on Tuesday urged officials of the department to maintain transparency and keep corruption at bay in their day-to-day work.
Addressing a State-level meeting of the Deputy Transport Commissioners (DTCs) and Regional Transport Officers (RTOs), the Minister said the department was a very important wing of the government.
He said reports surfacing at regular intervals of staff in the office resorting to corruption in issuing LLR, driving licence and fitment certificates upset him, and signing their suspension orders or punishment orders was painful for him.
Principal Secretary, Department of Transport, M.T. Krishna Babu, raised concern over the increasing number of deaths in road accidents.
On an average, he said, at least 25 deaths were being registered in the State every day. To minimise deaths in road accidents, the Centre had created an Integrated Road Accident Data Base (IRAD), a central accident database management system, that would help in analysing causes of road accidents and devising safety interventions, he said.
Developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-Madras), the app would be implemented by the National Informatics Centre and the World Bank-supported project’s cost was ₹258 crore, he informed, adding that the purpose of the project was on-site collection of accident data.
He said the State was allocated Central funds of ₹50 crore to identify and remove the black spots causing accidents.
Mr. Krishna Babu said despite impediments like COVID-19 pandemic, the transport sector had been working effectively, serving people of the State.
A total of 293 employees of the AP State Road Transport Corporation and the Road Transport Authority had died due to the virus infection during the two waves of the pandemic, he informed.
Referring to the Vahana Mitra scheme, he said ₹2.43 lakh had been deposited in the accounts of the beneficiaries of the scheme in the recent third tranche of financial assistance granted by the government.
Transport Commissioner P.S.R. Anjaneyulu, APSRTC Managing Director Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, and Joint Commissioners, Transport Department, Ramasri, Prasada Rao and Venkateswara Rao were present.
