Nagpur: Offenders of Motor Vehicle’s Act ought to be punished. Penal fines are usually levied by the RTO flying squad which stops vehicles which are over-loaded, reckless driving, drunk and drive, faulty vehicles etc.
While the cops of the Road Transport Office do perform their role many lacunae and faulty actions undertaken by them too has come to fore on more than one occasion.
In one such incident which occurred on Kamptee road, the driver of a local truck carrying gravel (gitti) was stopped by these RTO officials. Initially the cops of RTO had alleged that the truck was over-loaded.
When the truck-driver insisted that his truck was not over-loaded, the cops of RTO forced the truck driver to take the vehicle to a weigh-bridge (Dharam Kanta). There they made the driver pay the charges of the weigh bridge (around Rs 150). However, when the cops of the RTO found that the truck was indeed under-loaded, they then started finding other faults with the vehicle. When they demanded to see the papers, they found that the papers were in order. Then in order to fleece money from the poor truck driver, they started finding faults with the truck. They found that the passenger door of the truck driver was not aligned properly (which is usually checked in buses ferrying passengers). Finding some lame faults, the cops of RTO issued a Challan dated 04-03-2016 on February 4, 2016.
Wow! Have the RTO officials started issuing Post-Dated Challans?
Some of the drivers of goods transporting trucks told Nagpur Today on condition of anonymity that these cops of RTO who stand on empty patches of road on Kamptee Road or Koradi Road are there only to fleece money for some or the other lame faults that they find with the goods transporting truck drivers. If they find that the papers are in order, they will find some other fault with the vehicle and fine them.
