Delays her car registration for six months, asks her to appear for driving test.
For 38 years, Kandivli resident Sudha Girish Tendulkar did not let her polio come in the way of life. She’s not about to give up the fight now, either.
Tendulkar needs crutches to walk, but she learnt to ride a scooter when she was 23. The HR executive, who works for Goregaon-based Excel Cropcare Ltd, has been travelling to work on her Activa for 15 years, but now wants to learn to drive a four-wheeler. She applied for a vehicle loan, purchased an Alto and even got it modified to make it disabled-friendly with the sanction of the Regional Transport Office (RTO).
But while Tendulkar and the car have been road-ready for six months, the physically challenged woman is still waiting for the car to be registered. Despite repeated requests and several visits to the RTO, her papers are yet to be processed, she claims.
What’s more, Tendulkar alleges that the Andheri RTO officials have now asked her to appear for a driving test before they sign the papers.
“How can I appear for a driving test when I don’t even know how to drive the car? They need to register it first, and then grant me a learner’s licence. Only then can I learn driving, and thereafter appear for the test,” she said.
For 15 years, Tendulkar travelled 12km to her workplace on the Activa, which had a side-car to provide balance. “Since it can be controlled with hands, I could ride it with ease,” Tendulkar said. But she met with an accident and dislocated her right shoulder two years ago. After she recovered, her doctor advised her to use a four-wheeler as it would be safer.
Accordingly, Tendulkar applied for a vehicle loan and bought an Alto on August 10, 2009 for Rs2,85,000. “I also spent an additional Rs34,000 to modify it. The brakes, accelerator as well as the clutch can be controlled with hands, as opposed to a normal car,” she said. “All this was done with the RTO’s permission. The officials even checked the car after the modification and submitted a report on October 14, 2009. But I am yet to get the registration done.”
“Tendulkar has been working here for 17 years and has never given us any reason to complain,” said NK Amin, vice president, HR, Excel Cropcare Ltd.
Amin said “we are a disabled-friendly company”, which employs two other physically-challenged persons in the Mumbai office.
Transport commissioner Deepak Kapoor said that he was aware of the matter and would see to it that action was taken by Monday.
“Since she is physically challenged, she wanted certain special permissions for the license and registration, which can be granted only by the government of India. We wrote to the government two months ago, and as a special case, I directed the Andheri RTO officials to assist her immediately,” said Kapoor.
However, the government raised some technical queries such as the nature of disability, her ability to drive, how the car will be driven, how the car has been modified, etc. This happened soon after the Nagpur assembly session started, said Kapoor, admitting that there had been a delay in preparing the answers.
“Nevertheless, last Saturday, I assured the lady that her case would be dealt with on a priority basis, and by Monday, all required documents will be checked and sent to the government,” said Kapoor.
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